Hi List,
So...what do we do when we are *required* to do work on a flash drive,
utilize that flash drive at a school on *their* computers, bring said
flash drive home, do work on papers/presentations on said flash drive,
and repeat the cycle many times over?
I emailed our school yesterday with the link to the article, but....so
many students now do work this way. For many, the internet or resources
are not available at home, so they take their flash drive to the public
library, plug it into the computers there, do their research and work,
then return to school and plug that flash drive into the school
computers. This sounds potentially disastrous. Of course, the school's
systems are all Windows based.
Any advice for me to give the school administration?
Candace
On 10/6/14, 8:47 AM, Chuck Norcutt wrote:
I wrote the following mini-overview of the badUSB problem to send to
friends and family and thought others here might benefit as well
Chuck Norcutt
A very good overview of the "badUSB" problem in the link below.
In a nutshell, any USB device can be infected with malware which in
turn can infect your computer. But the malware resides within the
*hidden* control memory of the device. It is *NOT detectable* by any
anti-virus software and may never be because it is hidden within the
hardware of the device. Any USB device means not only USB memory
sticks and digital camera flash cards but also: printers, mice,
keyboards, scanners, cell phones with USB ports, tablet computers with
USB ports, some network adapters... truly, any USB device of any kind.
The bottom line is: never loan or borrow a USB device of any kind.
Never buy a used USB device. Never allow someone to charge their
cellphone using the USB port on your computer. Never charge your own
cellphone using the USB port on someone else's computer. Never borrow
or loan USB drives, memory sticks or camera flash cards. If you do
you could be catching the malware or inadvertently spreading it.
<http://www.wired.com/2014/07/usb-security/>
ps: Almost all external computer devices today are USB devices. Even
your monitor may be equipped with USB ports and can become infected.
If your device uses a cable with plugs that look like this or has
ports that accept these plugs is it USB.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Usb_connectors.JPG>
USB devices or cables also typically (but not always) have this USB
icon on them: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USB_Icon.svg>
Be especially careful with portable devices like USB memory sticks.
Do not share them with anybody... ever. I know, that defeats their
utility but it has to be that way. If your device or someone you
share with has the malware infection you will very, very likely never
know it. Defeating the problem will only occur when manufacturers
produce new versions of USB devices that are "locked down" at the
hardware (not software) level such that they can't be infected. Then
we'll all have to buy these new devices if we are ever to be safe.
Right now there is no other solution and new, safe USB devices may
take years to appear.
Chuck Norcutt
--
Have a wonderful day,
Candace & Co.
--
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