April 15, 2010 at 18:03USBDetect 3.0: NSA Network Flash Drive Detector
US National Security Agency experts have developed the USBDetect 3.0 Computer Network Defense Tool , which is able to detect all USB-sticks in the local network. Information about this development was not advertised, it just accidentally leaked to the NSA budget statement .
The tool scans the registry data of Windows machines ( PDF ) and collects information about all connected storage media, including external hard drives, flash drives, flash cards, etc. The tool was created to close the biggest hole in the security of organizations, since the main security threat is their own employees.
Since the program already has the third version number, it can be assumed that this is not the first such development, and similar utilities are already being used by the competent authorities. According to indirect evidence (see PDF at the link above), intelligence agencies learned to remotely detect flash drives about two years ago.
The tool scans the registry data of Windows machines ( PDF ) and collects information about all connected storage media, including external hard drives, flash drives, flash cards, etc. The tool was created to close the biggest hole in the security of organizations, since the main security threat is their own employees.
Since the program already has the third version number, it can be assumed that this is not the first such development, and similar utilities are already being used by the competent authorities. According to indirect evidence (see PDF at the link above), intelligence agencies learned to remotely detect flash drives about two years ago.