Canon Owners - Cameras at risk of ransomware:

[Donald]

Please read this link.

Canon are issuing Firmware, but until it's ready follow the advice on the advisory note.


https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/n...e0W0eX0-FAHVm0

[Ken MT]

Thanks, perhaps I should stay with the 5D Mk 2!

[Rita]

Thanks or the link Donald. Who would have thought.

[royent]

Thanks for that Donald I don't use Wi-Fi or GPS on my 6D

[Donald]

Thanks for that Donald I don't use Wi-Fi or GPS on my 6D

And do you use a card reader for uploading images or plug the camera into a computer?

[Manfred M]

Fortunately this hack is more of a proof of concept hack than one where there is any evidence of of this happening "in the wild". The issue appears to be with the communications PTP (Picture Transfer Protocol) that is used across the board.

Right now the fix seems to be obvious; turn off the wireless communications and do not connect your camera directly to your computer. Use a card reader and have anti-malware software running on your computer to ensure that the camera's memory card is "clean" and free of any malware before the transfer starts.

The camera itself is going to be a low profile target as losing data from a shoot this way is going to be about the same as having the card fail...

Something that the camera manufacturers are going to have to address with a firmware update...

[royent]

Donald I use a card reader
Royent

[lunaticitizen]

I can imagine this is troublesome for working pros if their photos are held hostage. For people like me, I'll just shrug, format my SD card, and take the same photos again

[DanK]

It looks like Canon will address this in future firmware versions, but for me, it's of no consequence. I have never used wireless capabilities with any camera, and I stopped connecting my camera directly to my computer years ago. I always use a card reader.

[Tronhard]

This and other malicious software and spyware hacks confirms my habit of not downloading images through any other means than removing the card and plugging it into a reader attached to my computers, which are loaded for bear as regards internet security.

In no way related to security, I find it less draining on camera batteries to download from the camera directly either by wireless tech or by using a cable from the camera to my computer. I find the download is usually faster that way too - especially with USB3 and compatible card readers.

For similar reasons I have no need to use GPS functions that hammer battery life.

[Tronhard]

Possibly more serious would be that software could be embedded in the camera's cards and transferred to the computer that would then have ransomeware applied to it - a far more serious risk than losing the contents of the cards themselves.

[apersson850]

I use GPS all the time, to make sure it's easy to see where the image was taken.
I also frequently use Ethernet for image transfer and WiFi to connect cameras together.
Now I've installed the new firmware versions in my cameras.