Finders Keepers? Understanding the Dangers of Removable Media

The other day, my son came to me after school and said, “Dad, look what I found on the sidewalk at school!”. He then handed me a 16GB thumb drive. “Can we put it into the computer to see what’s on it?”. Ah, wishful thinking. So, a flurry of questions began, starting with 1) did you try to turn it into the school’s lost and found? No! 2) Did you tell other kids about it? No! 3) Did you tell your teacher about it? No! 4) Did you already try inserting it into your school Chromebook? No! well…, maybe… ☹.

Removable Media Risks

So began a new lesson in cybersecurity for a young teen. I then asked him what he thought would happen if we put it into our family home desktop PC. A whole bunch of hypothetical theories began to emerge. Would the computer block it? Would it infect the computer with malware? Would it tell me who it belonged to? Is there valuable data on it that may need to be protected? As a young teen, he was much more interested in what it might contain, rather than how and to whom to return it to. After all, finders keepers, right? So, I decided to put him to work researching some information on the risks of removable media. Here is a link to the article he found.

And he agreed that the next day, he would take it to the school office to turn it in. We had a lot to talk about after that – I guess you could say it was a teachable moment and NOT finders keepers! 😊

Contact 2Bware today for tips and advice about how to get prepared. Often, developing a solid security awareness program is a crucial first step. Don’t wait until its too late!