USB Stick Damage Impact to CDJ caused by Virus
hi all,
i heard a rumor that if we use USB stick rather than audio CD it will makes CDJ slower in respond (reading tracks, FF, etc) because those CDJ using processor which possible to get infected by virus from the USB Stick (if there’s a virus on it).
is it true? the technician in my club forbid me to use USB stick to our Pioneer CDJ 850 because or that reason.
please give me the info
Cheers
v^_^
That is complete and utter rubbish. A processor can’t get a virus, and audiofiles are not executable. Your CDJ won’t be running any executable files either, with one exception. You could mess a CDJ up if:
Unlikely, and it would require the DJ himself to proactively carry out the act.
I’m not an expert, but here’s how I understand it from past talks with my brother who works in IT.
Viruses are written for specific operating systems. Part of the reason you haven’t seen many viruses for OS X is because the user base is relatively small, so there’s little incentive for virus writers to bother wasting time on it. Viruses as well are usually used nowadays to take over a computer in order to take advantage of its internet connectivity. There is no point in writing a virus for CDJs - infecting one would not net the virus writer any benefit whatsoever aside from being a dick to some random person he/she doesn’t know. They’re not connected to the internet and they do not have any local file storage anyway. It’s not worth the time to do so nor the effort to figure out how. I could be wrong about there being viruses written to infect CDJs, but I really doubt it; it just doesn’t make any sense.
Chances are that your tech doesn’t know a damn thing about computers if he’s telling you that. Even if the thumb drive had a virus on it that would infect windows computers, it wouldn’t do shit to the CDJs since it’s not written for their operating system. It’s like having a mac program on a pc - the file will still exist there fine, but it won’t actually run because it’s not coded for that OS. CDJs may operate more slowly with thumbdrives, but they shouldn’t catch anything from them. Sounds like simple paranoia and misinformation to me.
Your tech is wrong - it’s impossible to infect platforms for which the worm cannot communicate with.
Not all processor-based machines are made equal…try infecting a TV with a USB port with a trojan.
But if he’s going to be like that, bring a laptop with AV software on it, scan the USB in front of him?
Clever. So badly written software will write the overflow to a different part of the memory where it could possibly be executed?
this is ridiculous, it’s like trying to infect a turntable with a virus
No, it’s not. TTs don’t have any firmware. In theory, you could write a version of CDJ firmware that would make CDs spin too fast or too slow or something. Maybe, you could build a firmware that dumps a virus on any future USB stick that gets inserted. As said before though, it would have to be specifically dumped by someone with access to the equipment. It makes no sense for someone that gets paid to DJ to ruin their chances of income.
The technician is a paranoid moron, in other words.
The only way you CDJ would not read fast is because you have a TON of files to read. Like 20000 files in one folder. Or the files are not readable.
a buffer overflow is a standard exploit technique but probably doesn’t apply here. if you were to boot the cdj into update mode and load some hacked firmware then it’s going to run - no need to use any kind of exploit. not that i have any clues about the code running on a cdj off hand.
indeed. so long as the cdj has routines in it’s firmware for writing to usb (which i presume it must have) then in theory it should be possible to write some code that can self replicate back to a new usb stick. and maybe make the cd spin faster and flash some led’s or something 
while i’m sure it would be possible i can’t see many virus type writers bothering to try it… tho u never know. someone with way too much time on his hands or something.
If this were possible would the same not work off a cd too?
if u can load cdj firmware from cd sure and/or if a cdj can write to a rewriteable cd. i don’t know much about what u can and can’t do with cdj’s. must save up and buy some sometime - but not to try and hack 
Oh it’s possible, your turntable is just more vulnerable to human viruses, like when a drunk person comes up and leans on the platter to talk to you. These kinds of viruses, they’re still trying to find a cure.