Questions tagged [usb-drive]

Storage drives connected by USB devices known otherwise as flash drive, USB stick, USB key and thumb drive. Also includes larger storage devices such as portable hard drives.

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Is it possible to detect from where data was copied to my USB? [duplicate]

Someone had copied someone's private data onto my USB. Is it possible to detect from where or which system copied data to my USB?
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PC to iOS, USB storage Malware?

I have a laptop, with Windows 7, no internet (with the wifi adapter physically removed). I want to use that machine for stuff like old abandonware, and don’t want to risk any type of malware or virus ...
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Could a "writeblocker" device be circumvented by it's own restrictions?

Speaking hypothetically, if a person wished to secure their data drives and a "writeblocker" device was of concern, could a piece of encryption software be crafted to write to the drive in ...
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Can flash drive infect Android and then the Android infect Windows PC?

I found a flash drive outside my home. Thinking one of my neighbors might have dropped it and wanting to return to them (but still wanting to be cautious), I (stupidly) plugged it into an old Android ...
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USB flash drive password

Is it possible to add a password in a USB Flash drive as a security measure by end user so that the data is not visible or tampered by somebody else? As soon as the USB flash drive is connected to the ...
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How can USB ports be dangerous? [duplicate]

I hear all this vague information about how USB ports are dangerous, because people can just stick in a stick with malware on it and Windows just happily runs it automatically, or something. It's so ...
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How to wipe out data on a USB drive that is faulty, so that data can't be recovered?

I have several faulty USB drives and I like to return these to the vendor to get my money back - but without the vendor being able to access any data which might be still on the drives Problem is, the ...
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SED specification for USB sticks?

As I got from my preliminary research, there is an established standard TCG Opal 2.0 which defines in specification the principles of SED encryption thus enabling the interoperability between vendors. ...
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Flashdrive data confidentiality when disconnecting flashdrive from machine abruptly

Assuming I boot up a fully encrypted OS from a portable flash drive and do some tasks in this running OS; then abruptly disconnect this flash drive from my computer and a malicious actor gets their ...
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How to secure against USB drives?

Is it possible to set up Windows in a way that plugging in external storage can't compromise the device/network? To clarify, I would like to use the storage device to transfer data into the network. ...
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Can a USB drive be tracked? [duplicate]

If I had a specific USB and I plugged it into one computer to download something and then plugged it into another computer to download more files/view the files/etc., would there be some kind of ...
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Is there a way for a file/binary/exexutable to verify it's own integrity?

So I'm making a distributed recovery system which consists of a bunch of hidden usb sticks. I plan to have the file be an executable, probably in the form of a appimage, which will contain my ...
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How to disable data from an presumably dead USB thumb drive while leaving it physically intact?

The data on my USB thumb drive is no longer accessible using a usual consumer computer (cf. https://superuser.com/questions/1687720). I wish to make sure that someone cannot extract data from it ...
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What traces are left on a USB stick after using it?

If one uses a FAT32-formatted USB stick on Windows, Linux, or Android, would there be a way to determine on which computer the USB stick was used by examining the USB stick? I know OS can log which ...
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If a malware infects a usb, will formatting remove it? [duplicate]

My computer probably had malware. Decided to install linux and do a disc wipe using a linux distro called Pop!_OS (ubuntu based) Can a piece of malware/virus inject itself into an ISO According to the ...
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Does a virus (malware) ever expire?

There's a possibility that my old USB stick (which I haven't used in over a year) got a virus-infected audio file (AAC) among other trusted files. Can I safely open the trusted files bypassing the ...
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If I buy any FIPS 140 certified USB flash drive can I be sure that it's firmware is signed?

Does either FIPS 140-2 or FIPS 140-3 certification require USB flash drive's firmware to be signed so that malicious computer cannot overwrite flash drive's firmware? e.g. badusb attack. If I buy any ...
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How unsafe is a USB flash drive vs DVD for OS (Tails linux)?

Compared to a DVD live Tails Linux, how unsafe is using the USB version? I'm trying to help a friend who for years has been mired in the laborious iterative process of remastering their own DVDs of ...
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How to securely create a bootable USB drive from a possibly infected system?

I'm not sure about my system so I want to completely wipe my HDD and reinstall Windows 10. But I realized that an infected system can also infect a USB bootable drive. Unfortunately, I don't have ...
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How do pendrives like IronKey protect against password guessing?

For a pendrive like Kingston IronKey, how can the pendrive block multiple password guessing attempts? Couldn't the person just disassemble the pendrive, make 1:1 copies and try again and again to ...
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Would putting important information on a flash drive that never touches the internet be secure?

First off, I'm not even sure if this question belongs on this site, but I am a programmer and I usually just ask stack overflow questions like this, and I know for a fact this one doesn't belong there....
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Windows group policies to protect against Rubber Ducky attack

I have these group policies set on my personal computer and it seems to me they should protect against Rubber Ducky attack (however I've read other threads that say it's hard to protect against, hence ...
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What is the benefit of having FIPS hardware-level encryption on a drive when you can use Veracrypt instead?

The expensive one: https://www.dustinhome.se/product/5010873750/ironkey-basic-s1000 The cheap one: https://www.dustinhome.se/product/5010887912/datatraveler-100-g3 Over 14,000 SEK difference in price. ...
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Can an empty, but used, usb flash drive that has NO firmware within it be infected with malware?

QUESTION: Can an empty, but used, usb flash drive that has NO firmware within it be infected with malware? I have been told by a networking and security expert that malware will only attach to (write ...
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Safely use compromised USB drive to transfer data from one PC to another [duplicate]

How to use a USB hard disk to transfer files from Ubuntu to Windows 10 PC in a secure manner? I have not used that disk for a while but it was probably exposed to a few PCs that do not belong to me. ...
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Using an example to comprehend why “safely” erasing a drive yields better results than filling it up with meaningless data

A hypothetical 1GB USB stick is full of sensitive documents/images/etc. and it is not encrypted. The owner wishes to discard it and is aware of having to safely erase it first. There are several tools ...
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Is there any write-once USB stick/pendrive? [closed]

Is there any Write-once USB stick/Pendrive? I need to submit some files to Authorities and I don't want them to modify on whatsoever. Any suggestion?
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Protect USB from reading by using PC identity

Is there any way (software or hardware solution) to create a usb drive that can make its contents readable only on specific PCs using their hardware serial numbers?
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Can a usb drive infect a hard drive without an OS

Specifically, I was trying to install windows 10 on a fresh new ssd, i was trying to use a usb to do it but it turns out I did not create the usb drive correctly, so I’m stuck on the “reboot and ...
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Securely analyze and format a USB flash drive

I need to scan the contents of a USB stick with several antivirus software. I have several ways to do this. Either I mount the key, I scan its contents (I may place the suspicious files in ...
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USB Stick with write-protection

I bought a USB stick with a hardware switch to enable write protection. I burned a Linux iso on it to make some forensics analysis on my installed OS. Could the write protection be bypassed via ...
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Formatting potentially infected USB stick before plugging it into trusted devices

As stated in the title - is formatting my own USB stick on a separate computer with live-Ubuntu enough to prevent malware infection? I work as computer technician and sometimes my pendrives must be ...
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How to backup files from a infected computer to a USB drive in a safe way?

Send the files by email or upload then in a drive are not a option since my friend's connection is very poor and is a lot of files. She gave me a USB drive to save her files but I know her computer ...
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Is there a option to protect a USB stick from being infected other than flash drives with hardware protection?

I would like to protect my flash drives to being infected when I put it in another computers or devices. After some research, I found that I will not be able to reach this level of protection by using ...
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Why after dd'ing ISO file to entire USB flash device, only the first partition match the ISO checksum? [closed]

I use dd to "burn" an ISO file to USB stick: dd bs=4M if=/mnt/media/ISO/Fedora-Workstation-Live-x86_64-31-1.9.iso of=/dev/sdd conv=fdatasync status=progress Now I can see several partitions has ...
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Is Bitlocker secure enough for portable storage devices?

I have recently lost a USB flash drive that contained some important information. Fortunately, it was protected by Bitlocker. I felt the impulse to ask exactly how secure it is. Most answers on this ...
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What are the main attack vectors on USB storage drives on Windows 10?

I am trying to understand what generic risks are there in using my thumb drive to transfer files to some untrusted machine and plugging it back to my Windows device. Specifically I am interested in ...
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Printing document on usb drive with confidential information on multi user computer

I have a pdf file with confidential information on a usb flash drive. This document needs to be printed on a multi user Ubuntu system. I want to prevent other users from seeing the content of the ...
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Virus from a printer kiosk?

I encountered a puzzling situation the other day when I plugged in a USB flash drive. Windows defender displayed an alert saying that a threat had been quarantined, specifically the Jenxcus VBS virus. ...
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Does safe removable media exist?

I have a laptop operating a vehicle with attached camera. Video is exported using removable media. Ports available are USB and Ethernet (also video and audio I suppose). The laptop is not infected (...
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How to prevent USB Block Policy to be circumvented?

I know that I can disable USB devices using group policy for the computers of my company. What I want to achieve is allow users to use the USB port only for charging their phones, connect their mouse ...
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Should I use a thumbdrive I got on a conference in China? [closed]

I (from EU) recently attended a scientific conference in China. As part of the goodies there is a decent looking thumbdrive which has the conference logo printed on it. It seems to be in original ...
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How to make USB drive read only and write by a password or key or certificate?

I am trying to distribute a software, a simple exe file, that can be executed directly from an USB drive. I would like to make that USB drive read only to avoid any malware infection and accidental ...
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Are there tangible recommendations for USB drives to be disabled?

I am currently discussing / considering the possibility to disable access to USB drives (USB storage) on Windows machines. There are technical means to do this and I am trying to balance arguments ...
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Is it safe to plug my own USB drive into unknown pc?

Is it widely known that in the opposite way (an unknown USB to safe pc) it could be really dangerous. But I can't find any info if is it dangerous to put a drive to other pc. Case: I have my USB ...
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How could you safeguard your data traces when using USB Drive?

I have a very serious question with regard to data security with regard to usage of USB Drive when transmitting, storing or even clearing data with it. When one is going to use USB Drive for ...
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How to safely wipe a USB flash drive [duplicate]

I want to wipe all residual data left behind even after a format on a regular 64GB fash drive, the ones someone can scan and recover data. What's the most efficient but quickest way to do this? Any ...
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Is it too late to encrypt my already used USB drive?

I've had my USB for quite a while now. It contains quite a lot of personal information on it. (I know, I'm stupid for not encrypting it before hand). Is it too late to encrypt my drive even if files ...
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USB bootable CD protect against rootkits?

I have a infected computer, which I am trying to diagnose. The attack is probably very sophisticated, and I am not yet sure whether this has happened in the bios, mbr, active partition or any other ...
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Protecting/Crypting an external storage

We have an camera with sd card in which it records. AFAIK its software, recording parts etc., cannot be stepped in. We wish a mechanism/methodology that whenever it is plugged into usb socket of a ...

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