Key Takeaways
- Cheap USB sticks are unreliable due to low quality materials and limited lifespan.
- USB sticks can be used as malware vectors if obtained from unknown sources.
- Use high-quality storage for important data, back up regularly, and only use USB sticks for temporary transferring.
USB sticks are convenient gadgets for transferring files. You’ve probably got a bunch of them in your desk drawer, in your bags, plugged into TVs—and they’re all putting your data at risk. Here’s why.
Cheap USB Sticks Are Notoriously Unreliable
When was the last time you actually purchased a USB stick? If you’re using one you got for free at a trade show or as a business promotion, it was probably the cheapest USB stick that they could fit their logo on. Cheap USB sticks are made en masse by the lowest bidder. They’re often made from the rejected chips that are used in SD-cards and other flash storage devices, so it’s a terrible idea to put anything important on them, especially if it’s your only copy.
Adding to the potential things that could make your USB stick a dud, the flash storage they use has a use-by date. Even if you purchased a USB stick from a reputable brand, if it’s more than a few years old, it’s probably not in the greatest shape. Flash storage that isn’t regularly used can become corrupted as the electrical charge in it fades, while flash storage that is used too much will eventually stop functioning correctly. Flash storage chips can only read/write data a certain number of times reliably, sometimes as low as 10,000 cycles.
USB Sticks Are Malware Vectors
Do you even remember where your USB sticks originally came from? Hackers leave USB sticks loaded with malware in public places, hoping someone will find them and plug them in, infecting their computer. This can be targeted at specific people or businesses, for example, by leaving a USB stick with a company logo on their reception desk, and waiting for an employee to unwittingly use it.
This isn’t just theoretical: the famous Stuxnet virus that successfully sabotaged Iran’s nuclear facilities was spread via USB sticks, slowly working its way towards its targets as unwitting users plugged and unplugged their USB sticks into different computers. So if you have any weird or unknown USB sticks in your pile, it’s best to destroy them or at the very least wipe thoroughly without running any software from them.
Buy High Quality Storage and Toss The Rest
If you currently only have one copy of your important data on a USB stick, go and back it up immediately. It may seem alarmist, until you lose your family photos, or have to re-do important work that was lost to a dodgy USB stick from the back of your desk drawer.
Then, collect all of your USB sticks, admire the rainbow of colors and corporate logos—and bin them all after you’ve copied your data to your computer. If you still rely on USB storage to transfer files, buy a new USB drive that you can stick with, label it so you know it’s yours (and not an old one that’s snuck back into the mix), and politely turn down the next freebie you’re offered. Make sure you replace it every few years, too.
Use Your USB Sticks As Intended
USB sticks are not designed for long term data storage, and should only be used to temporarily hold data to transfer it to another computer. You should keep your important data on your computers or tablets, on dedicated long-term storage like hard disks, and ensure that it is backed up to an external hard drive and the cloud. You should also make sure you’re using a reputable antivirus solution, just in case you mistakenly plug in someone else’s infected device.
