Thanks to richard webb for sending this over for posting :)   
      
      
   [QUOTE]   
   A Dangerous Bargain   
      
   Gary Geissler, a Colorado-based IT specialist and high-tech advisor to Army   
   MARS, sends this caution about a dangerous bargain in the ham radio   
   marketplace.   
      
   =====   
      
   The best buy these days in handheld transceivers are the ones from Hong Kong.    
   The HTs are being purchased by amateurs, public service providers, and others   
   in government organizations.  Some versions have FCC and other type   
   acceptance.    
      
   The transceivers sell for a fraction of the price of comparable units from the   
   big three yet can work all the amateur and public service frequencies from the   
   civil aircraft band to the top of the public service UHF band. They have many   
   memories and features and can be programmed from a PC. Powered by big lithium   
   ion batteries (included) they are a steal for $55.00.     
      
   Or so it would seem.   
      
   I work for Digital Globe Incorporated.  As our corporation is an important   
   government contractor we are working with the USG to resolve issued as they   
   appear with regard to computer and Internet security.  The software tools we   
   use are among the strongest available anywhere (and as a result, the most   
   intrusive and painful!)   
      
   So when I put the tiny driver CD that came with my [Chinese] handheld   
   transceiver's programming cable into a machine to scan it I had no idea that   
   the disk would pull an immediate alert.  The alert was so strong that I could   
   not go any further and determine contents, files, names of virus, and so forth.   
      
   The CD was given to our computer security department. They will process it and   
   forward the results to their USG contact. This is only the second time I have   
   seen an alert this strong.  The other time (last week actually) was while   
   downloading a .pdf research paper from a university researcher's site.   
       
   Lest anyone think otherwise, we are under attack.  One might suspect that the   
   "real" object of the exercise with regard to the very low cost of the Hong   
   Kong HTs is the unseen present on the CDs.  I'm not a conspiracy theory sort   
   of guy; we can talk more about this at some point.   
      
   I might suggest a neutrally worded warning to destroy any driver CDs that come   
   with Hong Kong HTs; the Prolific USB/RS-232 drivers are available at no charge   
   from US sites and the public domain open source CHIRP software is more than   
   adequate for programming the radios in any event.    
      
   Gary    
      
   UNCLASSIFIED   
      
   --   
      
   HQ Army MARS Public Affairs Officer   
      
   =====   
      
   [/QUOTE]   
      
   )\/(ark    
      
   ---    
    * Origin:  (1:3634/12.42)