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USB Thumb Drives - The Threat And The Promise by Paul Dunn
In the early 1990's, the biggest threat to computers was the virus. Before networks, and the explosion of the internet, viruses and Trojan horses moved around from system to system on floppy disks.
The age of anti-virus software was born.
Today, USB "Thumb Drives" have become an everyday item. They are popular marketing giveaways, and prices have dropped to below thirty dollars for 2GB capacity drives. That amount of storage works out to up to 2 hours of video, hundreds of photos, or several program files.
That's the promise, and the threat, of USB drives. Because the primary reasonfor a USB drive's existence is to provide portability of data between systems, it's an attractive medium for transportation and distribution of Adware, Malware, Trojan Horses and associated nasty stuff from system to system.
"But, my system's clean," you may say. "I have anti-virus software installed." True enough. But, is your anti-virus software configured to examine new files or programs that attempt to enter your system via a USB thumb drive? Many default installations of anti-virus or anti-spyware software don't automatically set up to detect nasty bits on USB devices.
There are a few common sense things you can do to help protect your system from attracting an infection from Adware, Virus, Worm or Trojan Horse:
-Make sure that your anti-virus software is set to scan removable drives when they are detected. Did you know that your digital camera appears to your system as a removable drive? Same for your MP3 player.
-Be sure that you're configured to scan new downloads, especially music or video files. Malware can be embedded in one of these files, and while you're watching a cute video of the kid who "likes turtles"; some piece of software is harvesting credit card numbers from your system and sending them off to its master.
-Perform regular scans for virus, adware and malware. There are several products on the internet that can handle this for you. Do your shopping to find the product that will work best for you. While they all perform pretty much the same functions, some are easier to use than others, and not all of them will catch everything. The "all-in'-one" products might not be the best for a comprehensive protection solution. Look for products that specialize on one area, such as Spyware detection and elimination. Remember that it's likely a few products that do one thing extremely well are likely going to be more effective than one product that does everything a little less well.
-Practice "Safe Computing" Before you plug in someone else's USB drive (or other USB memory device - like a camera) into your system, think about "where it's been", and make sure that you perform a scan before you go any further. You'll be protecting your system, and your friend may thank you for identifying a problem that they didn't even know they had!
About the Author
Paul Dunn is the Founding Partner of DunnCo, a computer software, networking, and marketing services concern located in the Seattle Metropolitan area. For a comprehensive collection of articles surrounding topics such as this one and a list of resources for computer security, visit http://www.dunnco.net |
