In the University of Tokyo before the virus was discovered computers didn’t have antivirus software installed because the administrators believed that the computers were not at risk because they were not connected to the Internet. Before we get carried away about a computer virus pandemic USB drives are most popular amongst the student population and as a result Universities are naturally the most vulnerable to virus infections via USB drives. If highly confidential information from such organizations as universities are vulnerable then other organizations are liable to the threat of infection. The worst thing about this autorun virus is that there is no way of telling if an infected computer’s data has been stolen. It has even been reported that in one case the virus couldn’t be destroyed until the computer had been disassembled! The virus can email data saved on an infected computer to other users and it can also allow other viruses to attack the computer it has infected. The only noticeable signs of infection have been reported to be minor such as the computer running slowly but the serious nature of the virus can’t be seen. When a USB flash drive is infected with this virus and is inserted into a USB drive of another computer the virus reproduces itself within the new system. The main culprit of these outbreaks is a virus called “autorun”. It is worrying that USB drives can carry viruses but it is more worrying that if university computers can be infected then personal computers must also be in danger. One of the major contributing factors to the virus attacks has been that many university anti-virus security networks haven’t been updated after being installed resulting in them being unable to prevent this virus from infecting their computers. However, this fluid transport of computer data has caused more than 500 incidents reported in just 13 universities, this being half of the 27 universities approached for this research. With the ease of portability of USB drives and the plug-in-and-play nature students find this the easiest way to transfer their work. Particular hotbeds of virus infection are university campuses. It is not just branded USB pens that are spreading like wildfire but a virus is spreading with them. The ever-increasing popularity of USB drives is causing problems.
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