Amazing statistics revealed by ESET says that around a tenth of all malware released is designed to be spread by portable storage device such as a flash stick or usb drive. The malware is activated and runs as soon as the flash drive is inserted into your computer creating headaches for any user.
This INF/Autorun malware, which tries to use the autorun.inf file as a way of compromising a PC, remained the most common type of malware, and increased its share of detected malware during March.
Portable storage media started to become a noticeable threat last summer, since then it has gathered pace and continues to grow as a popular infection vector with malware writers.
“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.”
