McDonalds gave away MP3 players with Trojans
The fast-food chain McDonald's relies on music as part of its marketing strategy. As part of a promotion, customers had the chance to win an MP3 player. However, it contained not only music but also a dangerous virus.
The McDonalds fast food chain is focusing on music in its marketing. Customers could win an MP3 player in a promotion. The campaign was run in cooperation with Coca Cola. Up to 10,000 people won such a player with 10 songs. The explosive thing about it: in addition to the songs, the player also contained the Trojan QQpass, which sends sensitive data such as passwords and other personal information to its programmers. As the British online portal TheRegister reported, McDonalds has no idea how the malware got onto the MP3 player. However, they reacted promptly: the infected device was replaced with a flawless one and instructions were published on how users can rid their PCs of the Trojan. Technology has its pitfalls, so it is to be hoped that McDonalds has taken the right security precautions with its paid music download service, which is offered in a US branch via a WLAN network. No figures are available on how many titles were sold via the new service, but burger sales are said to have risen by 17 percent in the first few days.
