Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2010/05/19/child_abuse_pc_repair/
Best Buy tech finds 'child abuse' wallpaper on broken PC
Owner cuffed
Posted in Security, 19th May 2010 11:05 GMT
A man allegedly caught using child abuse images as a desktop wallpaper faces a string of charges after he took in the malfunctioning machine for repair.
Daniel J Wagner of Sheboygan, Wisconsin reportedly took the laptop into his local Best Buy store in order to clean up a malware infection around a fortnight ago.
The technician who dealt with the repair called in the police after apparently discovering that images of child abuse were used as a desktop background. Other such images were allegedly found in the PC's "My Pictures" folder. A subsequent police investigation unearthed a total of 67 images featuring sex acts involving children of between three and 12 years old.
Wagner, 46, was arrested when he came to pick up the laptop last Friday and was subsequently charged with multiple counts of possession of child pornography.
Local reports fail to mention what type of malware, if any, was discovered on the machine. Some strains of malware download images from child abuse websites onto compromised machines, a scenario that has been accepted by courts in clearing the name of some child abuse suspects in the past.
More comment on the case can be found in a blog post by net security firm Sophos here. ®