It's all digital

Abandon the USB

A recently discovered flaw in USBs may mean the devices can be used as an unstoppable Trojan Horse.

Almost everyone has used a USB drive at some point in their lives. The portable, memory devices are so ubiquitous that they are often given away as part of swag-bags or swinging from a user’s keychain. But a recent development has rendered the devices almost instantly unusable.

Researchers Karsten Nohl and Jakob Lell have discovered a fundamental flaw present in all USB devices. Most USB devices run on firmware. Firmware is a software that runs directly on the microcontroller within the device and gives the device most of its capabilities (as a memory stick or otherwise). Unfortunately, most devices do not protect their firmware, meaning the USB can be easily reprogrammed.

This means that a malware program can replace the firmware on a USB device like a thumb drive by using secret SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) commands and make it act like some other type of device, for example, a keyboard, Nohl told PCWorld.

Once the malware has successfully impersonated a keyboard, it can then secretly download viruses to your computer (or other device). The virus can become self-replicating, quietly eating up your computer without you ever being aware that it has installed itself.

According to several reports, the bad news keeps on coming. Besides being an undetectable transmitter of computer diseases, the USB infection cannot be cured (or patched, as computer geeks are wont to call the virus-ridding process). The virus is undetectable in scans, meaning most IT professionals would scan the device, remove a few files, and then return the device to you. Meanwhile, the virus would continue to self-replicate on your device.

Now for the real kicker: there’s no real fix to the problem, at least not one that’s forthcoming.

USBs are designed as extremely versatile, extremely portable devices. That slick design has allowed them to populate the marketplace (sort of like a self-replicating virus). But that unique design also makes them extremely susceptible to design flaws. It also makes it difficult to take corrective measures in response to this design flaw.

Even if structural changes were made to the USB to shore up security for the firmware it would likely take years for the new devices to be fully implemented and replace the old USBs.

So what can you do to protect yourself, right now?

The first and primary tip is to be aware of where your USB has been. Only use a trusted source with your USB. If you have any concerns about where your USB is going, don’t connect the devices. If your USB connects with an untrusted source, throw it away.

Nohl told Forbes that users should treat USB devices like hypodermic needles, potentially volatile devices that should become increasingly expendable after use. —Chris Mosby

For more: http://goo.gl/zfKvCi and http://goo.gl/lyjB3v

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