We blogged recently about increasing regulation, and strong penalties for companies that suffer breaches in data security. Industry experts and analysts agree that these new moves will help to drive wider uptake of secure USB flash drives. Read More »

In the last 6 months or so we’ve seen how USB flash drives have become recognised as a vector for spreading malware, especially malware that uses Windows’ Autorun capability.

This week, Symantec is reinforcing that message during its Cyber Crime initiative.   The company’s Security Response group product manager says that as well as being a method for propagation, USB-borne malware is particularly difficult to get rid of. 

Of course, one way of stopping the spread of malware via USB memory sticks is to use secure flash drives with on-board antivirus, which stops malware on the drive itself.

It’s also worth noting just how the sheer number of threats has grown.  In 2000, antivirus vendors issued 1,500 new signatures.  In 2009, over 2.5 million signatures are expected.  AV protection on all computing devices makes more sense than ever before.

With over 150 million flash drives sold worldwide last year, according to analyst Gartner, there’s an incredible amount of unsecured information being carried around in people’s pockets, bags, briefcases and cars.

And even if users think they are being safe by regularly deleting old files from their ordinary USB sticks, they are not.  In a similar way to a conventional hard disk, deleting a file does not mean it has gone forever.

In fact, all that has happened is that it has been hidden.  The delete function merely erases the reference to the file in the FAT (file allocation table) on the drive.  The file and data are still there, and by using FAT data recovery or repair tools, those “deleted” files can be easily found again.

It’s another good reason to deploy and use truly secure USB flash drives, like our Cruzer Enterprise, which keeps ALL data on them secured against unauthorised access and use, at all times.