Vulnerabilities have been found on certain HP laptops which have a program installed as part of it’s online support system that can leave the said computers open to attack. Bugtraq, a public newsgroup that follows problems or “BUGS†of devices and other computer related systems that lead to security related issues. The discovered vulnerability allows remote registry changes and code execution on select HP laptops, the company has yet to issue a statement on the matter but we can be assured that they are doing something to correct the said problem (or we hope they are).
Problems like these are not uncommon and they continue to be monitored by industry experts and users alike. As with the said problem, the original article from Security Focus, even has a sample of code that can be used to execute an attack on a computer/laptop with the said program installed. The code may have been made by a hacker who had stumbled on the weakness and wrote the code to make the problem more visible.
The recent problem with hard disks from Seagate and Maxtor that has had malicious code built into them fresh from the box has given rise to the ever complex attacks going on in the computing world to date. The said code having been infused into their products as they were handles by alleged Chinese sub-contractors giving bearing to industrial espionage as the main reason for these hidden code. As products become more and more open (having parts and other operation related equipment being made outside of their country of origin due to cost) it would be a surprise not to see these types of problems. As companies aim to lower costs and maintain competitiveness in the global market these types of issues will continue to plague us in the years to come.