The spy who bugged me -- Spy viruses spread through USB drives

Malware delivered through a USB drive infected a U.S. military laptop in the Middle East in 2008 and ended up on classified computers in the U.S. Central Command network. From there info was sent to an unnamed foreign intelligence agency. Now that's some real spyware.  Source: News.Cnet.com.

The article doesn't say how the USB drive came to be infected, but there's an easy way to trick people into using a poisoned thumb drive. A security expert explained it on a panel about cyber espionage broadcast recently on C-SPAN. Simply scatter a few tempting thumb drives in the parking lot of the target installation. Someone will pick one up and plug it into his/her computer out of curiosity. Then Windows AutoRun, AutoPlay or a similar feature on another OS, awakens the malware and sets it free on that curious cat's computer. If the computer is connected to a network, it's off and running.

Security people are aware of the risk these days, and any company serious about internet threats will have strict rules regarding USB drives. Nevertheless, InformationWeek.com says, "About 25% of malware today is designed to spread via USB storage devices that connect directly to PCs. " And a virus-carrying USB thumb drive may have been a contributing cause of a plane crash.

Although the typical home computer probably wouldn't yield classified info or industrial secrets, they could still be targeted by vandals or thieves.

So right up there with the rule against clicking a link in email spam should be a rule to never attempt to use a found USB drive no matter how cute it is.

Windows 7 is supposed to disable AutoRun, but users of earlier Microsoft operating systems need to do it manually. Instructions here.

Comments

[Jaydee]

OMG!
so what the virus/spyware do?

thought government top agencies are immune to these viruses or smarter than this.

anyways, just wish no important data have been stolen :(

[USB Drives]

I have heard that enterprise's data could be transferred to servers under foreign control by the viruses from usb drives.It sounds very terrible.So we must pay more attention to usb drives when we use them.