Symantec is currently observing an increase in malicious applications that use USB flash drive devices as a propagation method. Just as a clarification for any of our readers that are not familiar with the term “USB flash drive,” a USB flash drive is typically a removable portable storage device that uses a USB (universal serial bus) port to interface to a computer. USB ports are part of most modern computers and they are designed to allow many peripherals to be easily connected (plug-and-play) to a computer through a standardized interface. These USB flash drive storage devices are very useful and are becoming fairly ubiquitous in the workplace.

The USB flash drive storage medium is designed to be portable, making it easy to connect to many computers in its lifetime. This, unfortunately, exposes the flash drive to the risk of infection. There are many malicious applications that propagate simply by making a copy of themselves on all drives that are attached to a computer. The portability of the USB device and its small form factor can also make it easy for attackers to plug it into computers that they have limited physical access to, potentially granting them remote access at a later time.

At the moment, there are two popular methods that malicious applications use to infect USB flash drives:

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