Is There A Computer Virus In Your Pocket?

Not too long ago there was a news item about one of those digital or electronic "picture frames" that came with a lot of features, including a virus. I guess it should not be a surprise that if you buy something with a "chip" on it and plug it into your computer, you are susceptible to getting something you don't really want. It's sort of like "food tampering". The same type of employee that would "tamper" with food in a processing plant would also tamper with an electronic device designed to interface with your computer. It's bound to happen.

This got me to thinking about those USB "flash" drives that are so popular these days. I don't know how many times I've seen, or heard or, people taking their flash drives to work and plugging them into the company computer to either upload something, download it, or maybe just work on a "home" project on company time.

Everybody has "something" they just have to "show and tell" at work, and now these flash drives make it so simple to do. Photos, videos, documents, or anything else of a digital nature can now be exchanged as easily as passing notes in class.

To me, this is a scary situation. I can only hope that everyone's virus detection software is up-to-date. That includes the USB bandit's home computer as well as the company machine. I'm waiting to hear about a major company's system going down because of some employee bringing in a "bug" on their flash drive.

Now I'm sure that many companies have policies regarding this problem, but those drives are so small that those who want to use them anyway are likely to find an opportunity to do so.

Preventing, detecting and eliminating viruses is beyond the scope of this essay, but a quick online search of the topic will surely bring you many informative articles.

73,

WF5TX