Cyber Security Awareness Tip of the Day: October 3

The tip for today comes from a special friend, a fellow Administrator at LandzDown Forum, who took his longboat out of dry dock to make his way across the pond to ensure I received the message.

"Eric the Red" follows updates at the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI). Responding to my open request for tip suggestions, he referred me to a recent update at CPNI, Malware Installed on Removable Media, which relates to reports of newly manufactured peripherals and removal media* infected with malware.

The end result of the CPNI advisory is a triple play -- yes, three tips to protect your computer from infected peripherals and removal media.

October 3 Tip of the Day

1. Scan the installation software of new peripherals and removal media with your antivirus software before installing.
2. Restrict administrative privileges of user accounts.
3. Consider disabling "AutoRun". See How to Disable Autorun/AutoPlay in Windows XP/Vista
   

*Peripherals and Removable Media List from CPNI:

"Peripherals and removable media (for the purpose of this advisory) can take many forms and include, but is not limited to:

CD-Rom (and variants CD-RW etc.)
USB Memory
Digital Cameras
Memory Cards (SD, MMC, xD etc.)
DVD-Rom (and variants DVD-RAM etc.)
Portable Media Players (Audio and Video)
External Hard Disk Drives
Mobile Phones
All devices with flash memory
Digital Photo Frames

All products, including vendor sealed new products, should be treated with caution."

References:

• Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure
• How to Disable Autorun/AutoPlay in Windows XP/Vista

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