"Steve Riley [MSFT]" <steve.riley@microsoft.com> wrote in
news:E3C4B9CE-9821-4AB1-A7B4-F523991E1416@microsoft.com:

> I've heard these rumors before, too, and I'm not convinced they're
> true. I've traveled to China several times, it isn't the monolithic
> evil empire that bulletins like this would seem to indicate. Any
> laptop left anyplace unattended has risk; drive encryption like
> BitLocker is really the only way to mitigate such attacks (other than
> keeping the laptop with you at all times).
>

Depending on where you go in China, if you leave a laptop behind, yes,
someone might come along and install something and not take your laptop.
Why would they do this? Having remote access is more valuable, let you
decrypt the data for them.

If you suspect your computer has been compromised, I wouldn't even bother
scanning it unless your a pro; and are willing and know how to go low level
on your own. If you don't have the skills, secure wipe the drive, and
reload the system from known clean backups. In the future, keep all
important data safe and encrypted. Using a proprierty encryption system for
the entire HD isn't a bad idea in this case. That way, no password, no
access, no dropping/installing anything.


--
Regards,
Dustin Cook, Author of BugHunter
BugHunter - http://bughunter.it-mate.co.uk
MalwareBytes - http://www.malwarebytes.org