USB threats from malware to miners

[harlan4096]

Contents

• Introduction
  
• Methodology and key findings
  
• Key findings
  
• The evolving cyberthreat landscape for USBs
  
• USBs as a tool for advanced threat actors
  
• The Stuxnet survivor CVE-2010-2568
  
• Malware delivered via removable media
  
• Miners – rare but persistent
  
• Dark Tequila – advanced banking malware
  
• Target geography
  
• Conclusion and advice
  

Introduction

In 2016, researchers from the University of Illinois left 297 unlabelled USB flash drives around the university campus to see what would happen. 98% of the dropped drives were picked up by staff and students, and at least half were plugged into a computer in order to view the content. For a hacker trying to infect a computer network, those are pretty irresistible odds.
USB devices have been around for almost 20 years, offering an easy and convenient way to store and transfer digital files between computers that are not directly connected to each other or to the internet. This capability has been exploited by cyberthreat actors, most famously by the Stuxnet worm in 2010, which used USB devices to inject malware into the network of an Iranian nuclear facility.
Today, cloud services such as Dropbox have taken on much of the heavy lifting in terms of file storage and transfer, and there is greater awareness of the security risks associated with USB devices. Their use as an essential business tool is declining. Despite this, millions of USB devices are still produced and distributed annually, with many destined for use in homes, businesses and marketing promotion campaigns like trade show giveaways.
USB devices remain a target for cyberthreats. Kaspersky Lab data for 2017 shows that every 12 months or so, around one in four users worldwide is affected by a ‘local’ cyber incident. These are attacks detected directly on a user’s computer and include infections caused by removable media like USB devices.
This short report reviews the current cyberthreat landscape for removable media, particularly USBs, and provides advice and recommendations on protecting these little devices and the data they carry.

Full reading: https://securelist.com/usb-threats-from-...ers/87989/