Welcome, Guest: Register On Nairaland / LOGIN! / Trending / Recent / New
Stats: 3,143,322 members, 7,780,801 topics. Date: Thursday, 28 March 2024 at 10:35 PM

A must read for your computer safety! Stop Sharing Usb Flash Drives - Computers - Nairaland

Nairaland Forum / Science/Technology / Computers / A must read for your computer safety! Stop Sharing Usb Flash Drives (1043 Views)

Stop Sharing USB Flash Drives - Right Now / Logon To Windows Using Your Usb Flash Drive [dongle] / USB Flash Drives In Nigeria (2) (3) (4)

(1) (Reply)

A must read for your computer safety! Stop Sharing Usb Flash Drives by jendy36(m): 5:16pm On Aug 04, 2014
Stop sharing USB Flash drives

It's time to start thinking of smartphones and USB Flash drives like toothbrushes or razors -- for personal use only.
German security researchers have discovered that USB-connected devices have a fatal flaw. Anything that connects via USB can be reprogrammed to pose as another device.

That means a stranger's USB stick could dupe your computer into thinking it's a keyboard, then type in certain commands and quietly take control of your laptop.
Or it could pose as a network card, rerouting your Internet traffic so everything you do can be spied on.
Identity theft, bank fraud, extortion -- you name it. Anything follows. And any talented computer engineer can tamper with a device's firmware to dupe a computer.

The problem is made worse, because modern day antivirus and protection software won't catch it. USB duping isn't technically a computer virus in action, just a device masquerading as another one. So, there's no solution for it right now except simply barring Flash drives.
That's the approach the U.S. military takes at sensitive locations. The Pentagon disabled its computers USB ports and banned the use of Flash drives in 2008 to prevent infection of government computers there.

The flaw was discovered by SRLabs researchers Nohl, Jakob Lell and Sascha Krissler, and will be explained in detail at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference next week in Las Vegas.
The team tested with several types of Flash drives, as well as Android smartphones, which connect to computers via USB ports. The team did not test iPhones or other smartphones.
But it's not about a specific kind of device. At its very core, the USB flaw exists because of the convenient nature of computer Universal Serial Bus ports -- they're universal. They accept all sorts of devices -- mouses, microphones, printers and more.
"That simplicity has a cost," Nohl said
source is http://money.cnn.com/2014/08/01/technology/security/usb-hack/index.html
Check out www.schoolmeout.com
Re: A must read for your computer safety! Stop Sharing Usb Flash Drives by bebe2(f): 8:17pm On Aug 06, 2014
Ok. Read it.

Still clueless undecided
Re: A must read for your computer safety! Stop Sharing Usb Flash Drives by naijaaone(m): 8:14am On Aug 07, 2014
all i see is a publicity staunt by the whitemen to create market for laptops nd computers without usb ports or usb flash drives with anti-virus pre-installed in them in the nearest future. Na onyibo wey make virus na him still make antivirus..

(1) (Reply)

How To Repair Corrupt Exchange 2003 Mailbox? / How To Turn Your Laptop To A Wireless Cyber-cafe And Make Money / Best Video Editing Softwares For Windows PC & Macos

(Go Up)

Sections: politics (1) business autos (1) jobs (1) career education (1) romance computers phones travel sports fashion health
religion celebs tv-movies music-radio literature webmasters programming techmarket

Links: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)

Nairaland - Copyright © 2005 - 2024 Oluwaseun Osewa. All rights reserved. See How To Advertise. 10
Disclaimer: Every Nairaland member is solely responsible for anything that he/she posts or uploads on Nairaland.