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Showing posts with label Data Safety Security. Show all posts
ways to protect USB
Cyber Security Data Safety Data Safety Security Public USB Stations ways to protect USB

Lock Down Your USB Drive: 5 Powerful Ways to Keep Your Data Safe

 

In a world where we lock our phones, PCs, and even smart fridges, it’s surprising how many people still overlook the security of something as portable and vulnerable as a USB drive. A lost thumbstick can quickly turn into a digital nightmare, exposing sensitive files, personal photos, or critical documents to whoever finds it. The solution? Encryption. Securing your USB device has never been easier. 

Modern encryption tools make it simple to password-protect your data and render it unreadable to unauthorised users. While it might take a few seconds longer to access your encrypted files, the tradeoff is peace of mind. 

Here are five effective ways to safeguard the contents of your USB drive. 

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Major USB brands like SanDisk, Lexar, and Western Digital often ship their drives with proprietary encryption software. Tools like SanDisk PrivateAccess, Lexar DataShield, and WD Security are tailored for easy integration with their devices. Just install the software (sometimes preloaded on the drive), set your password, and you're good to go. However, these tools aren't without flaws. Some older versions have known vulnerabilities, and losing your password could mean losing access to your files entirely. Also, these utilities often require the same software to be installed on any device you use to access the drive. 

2. BitLocker for Windows Users 

BitLocker, a built-in encryption tool in Windows 10 and 11 Pro, is ideal for those who stick with the Microsoft ecosystem. Right-click the drive in File Explorer, select BitLocker, and follow the prompts. You’ll be able to encrypt the entire device and create a recovery key—just in case you forget your password. The benefits are solid: full-drive encryption, built-in support, and no need for third-party software. But there’s a catch—BitLocker isn’t available on all Windows machines, especially those running the Home edition, and it doesn’t work with macOS or Linux without extra tools. 

3. macOS Disk Utility for Apple Fans 

If you're in the Apple camp, Disk Utility on macOS provides a clean, straightforward way to encrypt external drives. Just reformat the drive with an encrypted APFS file system and assign a password. It’s fully integrated into macOS, so no need for extra software. The downside? APFS isn't natively compatible with Windows or Linux. To access your encrypted drive on non-Apple systems, you'd need third-party software—which often isn’t free. 

4. VeraCrypt: Open Source Fort Knox 

For those who want the highest level of control and security, VeraCrypt is a no-nonsense, open-source solution. It supports advanced encryption algorithms, offers full disk and volume encryption, and even lets you create hidden volumes for plausible deniability. While it's powerful, VeraCrypt is best suited for desktop users. It doesn’t support mobile platforms and has a steeper learning curve. But for security-conscious users, it’s one of the most trusted tools available. 

5. Cryptomator: Cross-Platform Flexibility 

If you need a user-friendly solution that works across Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android, Cryptomator is hard to beat. It encrypts individual vaults rather than full drives, so you can easily move or copy the vault between devices. All you need is the app to access your data. Designed originally for cloud storage, Cryptomator is equally effective for removable media. It offers strong AES 256-bit encryption, open-source transparency, and the flexibility to use the rest of your USB drive for unencrypted storage without any risk of interference.
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Windows
Botnet Data Safety Security ICedID Malvertising malware Windows

IcedID Botnet Distributors Abuse Google PPC to Disseminate Malware

 

To improve traffic and sales, businesses utilize Google Ads to deliver adverts to specific target populations. The IcedID botnet distributors have been using SEO poisoning, since the beginning of December to entice search engine users to visit phoney websites that result in the download of malware.
In order to display malicious ads above the organic search results, attackers are choosing and ranking keywords used by well-known businesses and applications in Google pay-per-click (PPC) ads.
  • Attackers are abusing terms used by organizations including Adobe, AnyDesk, Brave Browser, Chase Bank, Discord, Fortinet, GoTo, Teamviewer, Thunderbird, the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and others, according to Trend Micro researchers.
  • Attackers employ the official Keitaro Traffic Direction System (TDS) to duplicate the websites of reputable companies and well-known applications in order to filter researcher and sandbox traffic and direct potential victims there.
  • A malicious Microsoft Software Installer (MSI) or Windows Installer file will be downloaded onto the user's computer if they click the Download button.
  • The file serves as the bot's initial loader, obtaining the bot's core before releasing a backdoor payload.
 Escaping Detection:

IcedID operators have employed a number of strategies in malvertising attacks to make detection difficult. Libraries like tcl86.dll, sqlite3.dll, conEmuTh.x64.dll, and libcurl.dll, which are well-known and often used, are among the files updated to serve as IcedID loaders.

Since the genuine and modified versions of the MSI or installer files are so similar, machine learning detection engines and whitelisting systems have a difficult time identifying the modified versions.

In recent months, cybercriminals have utilised IcedID to establish persistence on the host, get initial access, and carry out other illegal activities. Attackers were seen utilising phishing emails in Italian or English in October to distribute IcedID through ISO files, archives, or document attachments that contained macros. The UAC-0098 group was observed in September using IcedID and Cobalt Strike payloads to target Ukrainian NGOs and organisations in Italy.

IcedID was being used by Raspberry Robin worm infestations in the same month. Recently, a wide range of distribution techniques has been used by the threat actors behind IcedID, as is to be expected as they test which tactics are most effective against certain targets. Users should be on the lookout for fraud or phishing websites and be cautious while downloading from websites.
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