Malware hits up to 3,000 HTC Magic smartphones in Spain

Vodafone has confirmed that up to 3,000 HTC Magic smartphones sold in Spain were shipped with malware on board.

The issue first came to light two weeks ago when a Panda Security employee in Spain discovered an infection on the memory card of their newly purchased HTC Magic, which was later identified as a client for the now-defunct Mariposa botnet. Further investigations also showed the Conficker worm to be on board.

At the time, Vodafone suggested it was an isolated incident, but with a second handset having emerged last week with the same issue, the carrier revealed to Spanish media that as many as 3,000 users may have been given infected microSD cards.

Both devices identified so far were purchased directly from Vodafone, which says it is sending a letter along with a new microSD card to all affected customers.

The letter will provide customers with instructions on how to run free antivirus scans for their PC on Panda's website Vodafone's official security partner. The carrier will also issue free security software to anyone whose computers have become infected as a result of connecting to an infected HTC handset.

The company says there is no evidence to suggest handsets elsewhere in Europe have been affected.

"It seems from the investigation so far that it was an isolated, local incident. Vodafone UK has received no reported security problems from customers using HTC Magic, although we are obviously going to continue to monitor the situation very closely," a spokesperson told Spanish media on Friday.

The Mariposa botnet was brought down earlier this month when Spanish police arrested three men believed to be the masterminds behind the virus.