Sneakernet-borne viruses seemed like a thing of the past until we started having Conficker outbreaks. There has been other malware that targeted USB storage devices before Conficker, but for some reason none had been as effective at spreading...something that's likely attributable to the multipronged attack capability.
Dealing with Conficker infections on USB flash drives became quite a pain for organizations of all sizes last year. I wrote about a few methods to help stop the spread of malware via USB flash drives back in February (see "Fight Malware With Software Restriction Policies"). Even with those safety measures in place, it didn't prevent USB flash drives from getting infected when they were used at a local print shop, stuck into a hotel kiosk, or used in some other poorly managed computer system.
Image Courtesy of the Plastiki Website: www.attalen.com
It's amusing to see the faces of attendees in my Cyber Self Defense class when I start telling them about the insecurities around USB flash drives and the use of pay-by-the-minute Internet kiosks at hotels. The majority of them have never thought about the possibility that a virus could spread by one of those handy little "memory sticks" they carry around with them. Those who had thought about it did so only because they'd been victims in the past.
And Internet kiosks...forget about it. They don't like being told not to use their company e-mail from those things because who knows what keylogger or malware has been installed on it. We'll save that discussion for another day.
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