Increasing amount of malware spread by USB

By Isabelle Chaize

Over 10% of all malware is being created with distribution by portable storage devices in mind.

Tools such as removable USB drives are being targeted by hackers as a vehicle for attacks.

According to security firm ESET, 10.3% of all malware detected by them in March was made up by malicious codes programmed to launch automatically once they are inserted into a machine on a portable disk drive or other removable media.

‘Portable storage media started to become a noticeable threat last summer,’ said Paul Brook, managing director of ESET UK.

‘Since then it has gathered pace and continues to grow as a popular infection vector with malware writers, and it is easy to see why.

‘It has been drummed into users for so long that email is the main source of infection that users have forgotten the threats from yesteryear when media such as floppy disks were the main concern.

‘Consequently, basic desktop protection is now often overlooked, particularly by home users.’

Despite the increase in malware on portable devices, ESET’s top threat detector was still INF/Autorun, which identifies malicious codes which are designed to exploit the Autorun.inf function in order to gain control of a computer.

Not only were these types of malware still the biggest threat, but they increased their dominance during the last month.

Another common form of threats is adware, especially notable being the Virtumonde adware.

Virtumonde renders computers ‘all but unusable’, according to Brook, who continued, ‘The problem is exacerbated by the fact that if the malware is not fully removed, it will try to replace registry keys and malicious DLLs. There are generic tools available that can help, but they need some knowledge to use safely’.