TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As many as one fifth of the 250 USBs given away as part of an event to promote cyber security, held at the Presidential Office last year, were reported to have contained a virus. It turned out that the virus had been transmitted from a computer during testing.

The Liberty Times reported that 54 USBs provided by the Criminal Investigation Bureau for the campaign were purchased from Shawo Hwa Industrial Co. (少華企業), which had imported the products from China.

The bureau said after investigation it had ruled out the possibility of a deliberate cyber attack on the campaign.

The cause of the virus contaminating the USBs was a worker from Shawo Hwa Industrial Co. that accidentally transmitted the virus from an infected computer to the USBs while he was testing the yield rate and checking the storage, according to the bureau.

The bureau said the file name of the virus is "XtbSeDuA.exe." It is designed to access a user’s personal data and pass it onto a remote device with a designated IP address.

So far the bureau has recalled 20 infected USBs. The bureau added it had taken necessary measures to prevent the virus in the rest of the USBs from hacking into users’ electronic devices.