USB Drive: The New Target for Virus Infections

Because pen drives are so popular and generally get used to transfer data between multiple systems frequently, particularly in the IT world, they're also a prime target for attackers as means to get infections spread around with you doing most of the work for them. Although many work places block the use of pen drive by its employees, it is still very hard to govern effectively – it is not like you are getting searched at the door when arriving and departing from work every day. Some companies actually install silent applications on their workstations that detect when a drive has been added to the system – the software then notifies administrators – but by then it can already be too late.

Attackers could get an infection out via standard mediums using exploits, bogus spam email, etc and the infection could be designed so that it does not affect your computer directly since its only purpose is to sit and wait for external drive to be plugged in. Once an external drive or other storage based device is plugged in, the virus goes to work and transfers malicious code to the device without you even knowing that it is taking place – now your thumb drive has become the attackers tool, a tool to transport whatever code he/she wants to whatever computer you plug that drive into next – possibly your workstation at the office.

Malware can be used to steal your personal information, sensitive company documents, allow external access to the infected system, or even spread an USB virus to a company network via network shares – the possibilities are limitless.

Some people tend to think that because they have an ‘encrypted’ flash drive they should be safe – which is completely incorrect. Encrypted flash drives are only effective against loss or theft, and even then it is questionable. Questionable since it could have been infected when you last accessed it – opening the doors on the encryption to get something on the inside that modifies the protection of the device itself.

Another common place that a lot of people probably do not think about is digital photo kiosks. These places are prime distribution points for infections. Think about it, if you were up to no good with some know-how, you could infect the photo kiosk computers at a Wal-Mart then sit back and laugh as literally thousands upon thousands of people walk in and insert their memory cards.

So what can you do about protecting yourself against such activity? Although 100 percent awareness and measures are not always 100 percent effective, there are simple things you can do at least ensure a higher protection rate. Such as:

Take advantage of security features - Use passwords and encryption on your USB drive to protect your data, and make sure that you have the information backed up in case your drive is lost (see Protecting Portable Devices: Data Security for more information).

Use special USB security software- the new released security product: USB Virus Scan can detect and remove viruses/worms/trojan in USB drive which are ignored by major antivirus, it can keep your computer and USB drive safe and away from the virus infections.

Keep personal and business USB drives separate - Do not use personal USB drives on computers owned by your organization, and do not plug USB drives containing corporate information into your personal computer.

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