2025 Cybersecurity Awareness Month Tip – Dangerous USB Drives

When you find a USB drive on the ground, your first instinct is to plug the USB drive into your computer to see if you can identify who the drive belongs to so you can return it to its owner.  You should resist this impulse as hackers try to take advantage of your kindness by putting malicious software on the USB drive that will automatically launch when you plug the USB drive into your computer.  That software can steal your personal information or can be used by the attacker as a foothold in the Fairfield network. 

What should you do when you find a USB drive on the ground?  Bring it to the ITS Help Desk (on the main floor of the DiMenna-Nyselius Library) or Public Safety (on the ground floor of Loyola Hall).  We have ways to safely view USB drives so we can reunite lost USB drives with their owners.