Thanks
If you get a virus from a USB stick, then is the only way to get rid of it to re-install windows?
Does re-installing windows definetely get rid of a virus?
Thanks
If you get a virus from a USB stick, then is the only way to get rid of it to re-install windows?
Does re-installing windows definetely get rid of a virus?
Thanks, also supposing i used a USB mouse on the work PC, then come home and connect this same USB mouse to the home laptop, then could that USB mouse spread a virus to the home laptop, just as if it were a USB stick?
People cannot use USB pen drives in a company for safety reasons. Everybody educated in IT should know that executables are hidden that establish communication between the systems that the USB drive visits. If one of those systems happens to be online, the data gets dumped to a host somewhere in the US or in China. The sticks carry with them all kinds of logs, images etc. It has hidden partitions for that.
If you get a virus from a USB stick, then is the only way to get rid of it to re-install windows? Does re-installing windows definetely get rid of a virus?
tl;dr: you seem to inflated facts, blown a story out of proportions by a few orders of magnitude, turning a relatively small event of “may happen” nature to a distorted, grotesque vision of the reality where “may” was replaced with “always”. Which is false and harmful to OP.
Yes, it did. But what you said is not that Stuxnet exists. Not even that there exist malware that is being spread on pendrives. Not even about a possible, though complicated and expensive attacks using specially crafted USB sticks. For that I would not ask for sources, considering that I have already covered those in my own answer.
You made a claim, extreme in its nature, about arbitrary USB sticks being inherently dangerous to use, that they run (magically by themselves!) hidden executables, collect data and send them to servers. Drawing a picture that implies they shouldn’t be used at all, and either pretending that’s authoritative information or shutting off criticism by adding that “everybody educated in IT” would support that.
To start with, this is a universal quantification style statement. For that you can’t link a source that gives existential quantification. Even worse, a source that is referring to events that are mostly historical, while your claim is in present tense.
So I am asking, again: provide sources that confirm the statement you have actually made. Not something that matches some random words from it. Otherwise stop spreading misinformation. Feringdon is clueless enough, already fell victim to people spreading similar bullshit and by making such frivolous claims you are hurting them even more. I will not make guesses, what motivates you to do that, but perhaps think twice about the harm you are causing.
No, there is no inherent risk associated specifically with that technology. USB sticks in your control do not come from factory preloaded with malware to steal data from your system and send it to three letter agencies. There is no “everyone educated in IT knows” style knowledge about such a thing. Using pendrives may cause risk, just like anything else may: that happens for very specific reasons and in particular circumstances, not by default. The full explanation is above. You are free to disagree and address concrete points, in case I conveyed invalid information.
Exactly, Autorun is the visible part that you disable to feel safe. Nobody should believe public statements over IT safety. There is good reason to ignore those and instead adhere to restrictive IT safety methods. No USB pen drives in the office!
Thanks for all replies...
Please advise if computer hackers can hack into your laptop by knowing what is the IP address of your home router?
I have an EE 4G mobile wifi router. This has an IP address written on the back of it. So I guess its IP address is fixed to that.(?)
Now, as discussed, I have also been connecting USB sticks into work PC’s, and then connecting these same USB sticks to my home laptop, in order to continue working at home. Now it emerges that the companys have set their PC’s up to put malware etc onto USB sticks so connected. I know this because IT staff have recounted to me what youtube songs I listened to the night before, and even repeated exerpts of conversation I had with my partner, the previous evening. I also believe it may be why my home laptop is freezing and hanging regulatly….the “blue circle” has almost become my personal “coat of arms”.
Anyway, I have re-installed windows on the home laptop, but am still getting problems. I actually wonder if they virus’d the USB stick such that it made my home laptop transmit my router IP address to them. Then knowing this IP address…they could hack into my laptop and make it freeze etc?
..As discussed my home laptop is regularly freezing. Strangely this tends to happen mostly between the hours of 11am to 5pm weekdays. When my laptop freezes, and can’t get on the internet, I then take it to the local coffee shop, and go on their wifi there, with no problems.
So this is kind of making me think that the hackers (or their malware) have got my home router IP address, and are able to use it to mess up my home laptop?
I mean, I am on coffee shop wifi now, and my home laptop is fine. (it couldn’t get on the internet 10 mins ago when I was at home) So I am thinking there is some connection with my home router, and its IP address, being “known” to the malware?
So can I change my home routers wifi address?
Thanks for all replies...
Please advise if computer hackers can hack into your laptop by knowing what is the IP address of your home router?
I have an EE 4G mobile wifi router. This has an IP address written on the back of it. So I guess its IP address is fixed to that.(?)
(to the person who thinks that their Chinese lamp is trying to hack their Windows - nope