The story exposing how some TomTom satnav units had been sold complete with no less than three pieces of malware pre-installed which broke right here in the DaniWeb blogs last year was yesterday named 'Best Information Security News Story' at a prestigious awards ceremony held at the Haymarket Hotel in London, England. DaniWeb administrator and staff writer, Davey Winder, who was responsible for investigating and writing the story in his 'Inside Edge' blog had a good day at the ceremony which is sponsored by BT: for the second time in three years, Davey was named as the Information Technology Journalist of the Year.

Ray Stanton, global head of BT’s business continuity, security and governance practice, was joined by fellow members of a prestigious judging panel which included Ron Condon, former editor-in-chief, SC Magazine; Graham Edwards, head of group information and IT risk, HBOS plc; Malcolm Marshall, UK lead partner for security and continuity services at KPMG; and Professor Fred Piper, director of the information security group at Royal Holloway University of London. Stanton told us that “The diversity of entries this year was very impressive with articles covering an ever broader range of topics. Yet again the quality was excellent, underlining just how strong UK journalism is in the security space. Davey Winder, impressed the judges with the originality, topicality and relevance of his writing. The judges had their work cut out and our congratulations go to the winners and shortlisted journalists, all of whom demonstrated great insight and writing ability in tackling complex and often controversial topics.”

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This thread highlights an important piece of investigative security reporting and the value of community attention. Thanks to for bringing the item to the forum, and to and for the responses — publicity like this pushes vendors and retailers to address problems faster. Below are practical, model‑agnostic steps and context for anyone who encounters a consumer device that might have shipped with unwanted software.

Immediate checklist — follow in order:

  • Isolate the device: disconnect it from networks and PCs before further inspection.
  • Avoid autorun: decline any unexpected prompts when connecting the device to a computer; disable Autorun/Autoplay on the host system.
  • Preserve user data: export or back up favourites/waypoints to a separate location before making firmware or storage changes.
  • Use vendor tools only: reinstall official firmware or maps using the manufacturer’s supported update tool and files downloaded from the vendor site. Do not accept third‑party firmware images.
  • Scan safely: mount removable storage on an isolated or virtual machine and scan with up‑to‑date antivirus; if a suspicious file is found, capture its hash (for example, sha256sum or certutil -hashfile) and record filenames.
  • Report and request guidance: contact the device maker and the point of sale with serial/receipt details; follow their remediation instructions and ask about replacement or recall policy if needed.

Why this matters: devices can pick up unwanted code at several points — manufacturing imaging, third‑party installers, or compromised update channels. That uncertainty is why documented evidence, vendor transparency, and secure update signing are critical. For long‑term protection, insist on purchases from reputable sellers, register devices with the manufacturer, keep software updated only from official sources, and treat removable storage from embedded devices like any other external media.

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Congratulations to happygeek! Daniweb has some awesome people!

Thanks! Although I feel more 'knackered' than 'awesome' at the moment. :)

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