Malware spreading on portable devices
Recently there has been a rash of malware outbreaks caused by infected USB thumb drives and other infected portable devices. A guest editorial at ZDNet calls it an epidemic:
Let’s skip any introduction and get straight to the point: We’re currently facing a problem of epidemic proportions in malware that is spreading via removable devices.
The U.S. army’s recent ban on removable storage probably says it all, though one may wonder what took them this long.
The vast majority of these malware samples is originating from China. Their functionality varies. It started out with online games password-stealers targeting World of Warcraft, LineAge and others. But over the last months, we’re seeing malware being upgraded to also spread via removable devices. They all make use of Windows’ AutoRun functionality.
The author, Roel Schouwenberg, is a senior anti-virus researcher for Kaspersky Lab and he blames the problem on the AutoRun feature of Windows. He suggests:
Having such a huge epidemic shows that this strategy is working for malware authors. Therefore the best course of action is to get rid off AutoRun for writeable media and simply eradicate the problem.
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