HP Ships Virus-Infected Flash Card With ProCurve Switch

In a security bulletin released Wednesday, HP said the card shipped with ProCurve 5400 zi series switches purchased after April 30, 2011. The infected card poses no threat to the switch. Reuse of the card in a personal computer could compromise the system.

HP did not say how the infected cards got bundled with the switches. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company declined an interview request, offering only a statement that said it had "corrected a potential security vulnerability."

While unusual, HP has had similar problems before. In 2000 and 2006, the Funlove virus was discovered in printer drivers distributed from HP FTP servers.