The Ubiquitous USB Stick (Flash Drives)
This includes USB attached portable drives. Large organisations will typically prevent users having access to USB ports for security. This is not feasible in small volunteer led organisations. So what to do?
- Always scan USB sticks and drives for viruses and malware (you do of course run scheduled anti-virus checks on your PCs and laptops regularly, don’t you?).
- If you know how, to set your devices up so USB sticks are scanned automatically.
- Beware shared USB sticks and drives or third-party ones passed to you with data on – you simply cannot account for where they have been and what sate the other persons systems are in. There is a high probability of passing on (receiving) a virus.
- Out of courtesy whenever you pass a USB stick to someone else please scan for viruses first.