New device counters USB drive threats
Even in the age of the cloud, USB drives are still commonly used to exchange information between office and home computers, but they're used by hackers as a way to infiltrate systems too.
Researchers at the UK's Liverpool Hope University have developed a new scanning device that can counter the threat posed by USB devices.
One of the problems with USB drives is that the computer's operating system tends to treat them as a trusted component. This means that once connected they can automatically execute scripts that are potentially malicious.
The new device sits between the USB stick and the computer to act as a gateway or barrier, it's able to scan the USB drive for malicious software, stopping a cyberattack in its tracks.
Dr Shishir Kumar Shandilya, a visiting research fellow in Hope's School of Mathematics, Computer Science and Engineering explains:
Our invention safeguards the host computing device by providing an additional layer of hardware security, and by hiding the host operating system information.
This is done by presenting the disguised information about the computing device to the external devices. The disguised information effectively confuses the external memory device that is plugged into the computing device.
The invention also has a method and intelligence to identify the malwares and has a capability of hiding the host computer information, making it nearly impossible for the malicious code to attack.
The invented device also scans the USB device and decides the visibility and accessibility of the files present in USB devices at the host computer, giving either full-access, partial-access, or a full-block.
The device sits in an emerging field of cybersecurity research known as Nature-Inspired Cyber Security, or NICS. As the name suggests, it incorporates ideas and phenomena from the natural world, ensuring an operating system doesn't fall victim to a predator. Dr Shandilya describes NICS as the "defensive mechanisms of the future", and adds that, "NICS is a new field of research which is an amalgamation of bio-inspired computing and cyber security."
The research team has a fully-functional prototype and is currently liaising with manufacturers to make the device a commercial reality.
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