Flame stashes secrets in USB drives

[zigzag3143]

Since the primordial days of data tapes and floppy disks, viruses have used removable storage to spread between computers or, more correctly, have used computers to spread between storage media.
The Flame attack, however, takes the infection of removable media to another level.
In an ongoing analysis of the attack, security firm BitDefender has pinpointed a component of Flame that uses removable media as a carrier to sneak data out of secure installations. On computers not connected to the Internet -- a potential sign that the system is part of a sensitive, "airgapped" network -- Flame waits until a USB drive is inserted. Then it copies not only itself, but a prioritized list of stolen data as well.

https://www.infoworld.com/t/malware...ives-195455?source=rss_infoworld_top_stories_

 

[JMH]

Flame Malware Illustrates Vulnerability of USB Drives

While USB drives have long been a security threat, the Flame spying malware brought the use of portable storage devices to a new level of weaponry.

Flame, discovered last month in Iran's oil-ministry computers, used USB ports found on every PC as a pathway to avoid detection by network-guarding security systems. The cleverness of Flame's creators in keeping the malware under the radar was one more example of why it is considered among the most sophisticated espionage-software packages to date.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2577...rates_vulnerability_of_usb_drives.html#tk.rss