According to newswire reports, it seems that the malware is installed as embedded code on the firmware of the motherboard and may be a trojan spyware application.

Dell claims that the issue does not harm servers running non-Windows operating systems and that it not an issue with new systems shipped directly from the manufacturer.

In a posting on the firm's community site, Matt M of Dell said that the company has identified a potential issue with its service motherboard stock and is taking preventative action [by contacting customers].

"The potential issue involves a small number of PowerEdge server motherboards sent out through service dispatches that may contain malware", said the posting.

"To date we have received no customer reports related to data security. Systems running non-Windows operating systems are not vulnerable to this malware and this issue is not present on motherboards shipped new with PowerEdge systems", the posting adds.

Dell has not issued a statement on the issue.