back to article Amazon REINTRODUCES Kindle swindle vulnerability

Amazon has reintroduced and again fixed a flaw into its Kindle management page that allows attackers to commandeer accounts by booby trapping pirated books, researcher Benjamin Mussler says. The flaw was first discovered and fixed last October, when Amazon closed off the ability for bad guys to inject nasty script into eBook …

  1. Mage Silver badge

    Mitigation

    1) You have to be NOT using USB storage mode to copy books. Why would 'pirates' risk sending their books via Amazon. Surely Amazon monitors everything sent to a kindle.

    2) You probably have to be getting 'pirated' books

    Does this work on any Kindle reader?

    There are three different kinds:

    1) eInk type Kindle

    2) Kindle Fire, a Tablet

    3) Kindle reader app for Windows, Mac OS, iOS, Android etc.

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      Re: Mitigation

      "Why would 'pirates' risk sending their books via Amazon."

      Upvoted for that as it was my first reaction too.

      On the other hand, maybe the teenaged and twenty-somethings who display their every waking moment on Twatter and Farcebook have no concept of privacy, even for their "illegal" acts?

      1. Sir Runcible Spoon

        Re: Mitigation

        If you always download your books to your PC and then put them on the Kindle, you'll never have a problem - and no-one can take them away from you either.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Pirate books are great

    "Treasure Island" is my favourite.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Another reason to use Calibre.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    These stories work in Amazon's favour

    As noted above, this is only an issue for the world's dumbest pirates (who want to be able to synch their pirated booty across all kindle-enabled devices, including their PC, tablet and phone), as most would just USB copy to their Kindle device directly.

    But by having these headlines around, non-techy users just hear that pirated books = identity theft, so stick with Amazon sourced books!

    TBH, I've been given copied books before, but prefer to purchase them anyway, as I quite like the idea of good authors getting paid, and being incentivised to continue creating good content. It's crazy, but it just might work!

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