Removable Media

In short: Removable media are exchangeable storage media such as USB sticks, external hard drives and SD cards.

In more detail: They are practical but a classic infection route and a risk of data loss.

In Depth

Dangers

• Malware travels from device to device (the worm Stuxnet spread this way among other things, see worms).
• BadUSB: manipulated sticks pose as a keyboard and type commands.
• “Found” sticks as bait (social engineering).
• Loss and theft of unencrypted data.

Protection

Do not plug in unknown media, autostart off, encrypt media, in companies lock or control USB ports. See USB, SD cards.

See also: USB, SD Cards, Worms, Social Engineering