Popular USA Network Show “Mr. Robot” Raises Important Security Point

Watching Mr. Robot the other day made me think of an old-school hack that I am sure flies underneath many people’s radar. The scene was where fsociety (their hacker group) needed to access a penitentiary facility (I know, but this is fictionalized TV). All their WiFi networks were secured with passwords using WPA2 (currently the highest available encryption) so that wasn’t an option.

Instead, what they did is drop a bunch of flash drives in the parking lot. Curious, one of the security guards picked one up.  When he got inside, he plugged it into his office computer. He then double clicked to open the content of the flash drive then double clicked on a file that looked like a free music offer. With that, the other hackers in the group were in.

How a Flash Drive Could Cause YOU To Need  Virus Removal

(If you saw the episode, the guard immediately unplugged the flash drive as soon as he suspected the program was nefarious. In real life, merely unplugging would not have stopped the compromise. Worse yet, the mere act of plugging in the flash drive into the computer may be enough to install a virus or some other software that can compromise your computer or even your network).

My point is that finding a lost flash drive may seem innocuous and even enticing. Our natural curiosity may make us want to see what information may be saved on it. Ultimately, we may be the victim as a consequence of our curiosity.  The best move is to just trash it!