AMD-hosted WLAN used to infect security hack's PC
AMD would like you to know that its mobile Athlon 64 goes very nicely with 802.11 wireless networking. And in a bid to get hacks assembled at its Cannes launch event this week to think 'wireless', the chip maker thoughtfully laid on a WLAN for them to use to quickly file column inches for their respective rags.
Notebook-equipped journos without the requisite Wi-Fi support were handed some rather nice AMD Alchemy-branded 802.11b PC Cards. As for journos without laptops... well they just had to use the time honoured method of reading their copy to a typist at the other end of a phone line.
We were tickled to see AMD's temporary hot spot was powered by a pair of Apple AirPort Extreme base-stations. So much for AMD's backslapping message of support from WLAN chipset maker Atheros - the Apple kit is based on technology from Atheros' rival, Broadcom.
However, the Apple product also contains one of AMD's Alchemy embedded processors, so that's fair enough, we reckon.
But whoever made the Wi-Fi infrastructure, it still wouldn't have prevented one crafty so-and-so from attempting to infect the assembled portable PCs with a LAN-borne virus. The culprit's identity remains a mystery. Was it a hack? An AMD customer, perhaps? Maybe even an employee?
