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Survey Shows "Shocking" Disregard For Security With USB Flash Drives
Tom Burroughes
22 March 2013
A survey of IT professionals has revealed that 78 per cent of them admit to plugging in USB flash drives that are found lying around or abandoned, undermining security guidance at a time when sectors including wealth management are being urged to take security more seriously. The findings came from AhnLab, a large security vendor based in South Korea. The firm carried out a poll of IT figures at a recent conference. The study also showed that more than 68 per cent of those surveyed had been involved in a security breach, either at home, work or personally – with many relating back to the infected USB drives. While not aimed explicitly at the wealth management sector, the findings are a reminder to the industry, at a time of focus on issues such as data safety and client privacy, to be careful about security breaches. “I am utterly shocked at these figures, in particular, the 78 per cent number,” said Brian Laing, vice president of marketing and business development, AhnLab, Santa Clara. “For example, Stuxnet, one of the world’s most sophisticated cyber-attacks, gained access to its target system through a ‘found’ USB drive. The creators of the malware left infected USB drives near a uranium enrichment facility and someone picked it up and inserted into their PC. Stuxnet derailed the efforts of that nation to purify nuclear materials at its facility,” Laing said. An infected USB drive could result in infected machines, infected networks, and a PC or PCs in the network converted to a bot for use by cyber criminals. The result could include stolen intellectual property, such as sales forecasts, customer, and financial information, he said.