Comments on: How a simple USB stick can threaten your corporate network

By: Gerry

Gerry — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 04:24:53 +0000

I was just wondering if the article was posted as a complete piece. Although it seems to read like a finished article, on my browser I see unfilled bullet points underneath the posting. Being quite interested on the subject matter of USB based security vulnerabilities, I was wondering if maybe some additional points were meant to be included in the article which were not included in the final blog post.

By: Donna

Donna — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 04:15:03 +0000

A lot of my co-workers have begun utilizing password protected USB drives to prevent from remote tampering of the device itself. Management in our company has deemed it to be so effective, that password protected USB drives are being given out for free as company property for staff use. Password protected USB drives may not be better than not misplacing the drive itself, but it’s at least an additional security measure.

By: Ray

Ray — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 05:57:31 +0000

Because of threats like this, a lot of managers have considered shutting out USB functionality altogether. But I firmly believe that this is a counter productive approach towards security. By shutting out your staff from using another means of making them more productive and more efficient would be much like any other virus or malware shutting it down itself. Although most security specialists believe that cutting off the head of a snake is the best way to kill it, maybe that analogy doesn’t necessarily apply here.

By: Elmer

Elmer — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 05:40:17 +0000

A friend of mine who’s been working in advertising told me this crazy story about how some conniving companies use freebies to pilfer confidential information from their clients and customers. As a supposedly “harmless” give away, the company thought of giving out custom-print USB drives to their valued customers. What they didn’t mention, however, was that these drives came pre-loaded with software designed to transmit purchasing habits of their customers. Though my friend wasn’t willing to divulge the name of the company behind it, he was keen on mentioning that they were in an industry where their customers weren’t expected to be tech savvy at all, and not be suspicious of activity like this.

By: June

June — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 05:28:26 +0000

@Harrison

I’d think you were absolutely bonkers if I didn’t work in retail marketing for over three years before moving into software. A close co-worker of mine, out of the blue, was called into the office of an executive and left with his bags packing. I only later found out that he was photocopying sensitive corporate strategies and selling them off to our competitors. True story. Having thought I had known the man pretty well, but it does feel lifted out of a spy film when you realize that you don’t really know what the people you’re working with are capable of.

By: Harrison Wright

Harrison Wright — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 15:52:54 +0000

I think that the “innocent” business manager might have actually dodged a bullet. It would’ve been a completely different story if the malware contained in that USB was designed to transmit confidential information. In the grand scheme of things, compromised files of a single laptop are peanuts compared to losing trade secrets to competitors. It may sound like something straight out of a spy film, but corporate espionage has gotten to a point where people don’t think twice about profiting from pilfered data.

By: Samuel

Samuel — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 10:16:27 +0000

Well to say, the GFI End point Security software worked well when i used it trial. So i thinks it handles issues like this properly…………