There is a form of computer terrorism making the rounds that involves the use of USB plug-ins. Now before you get all worked up, no one is saying that USB plug-ins are a bad thing. On the contrary, they are an extremely good thing. But as with most everything in this world, it just takes one moron to turn something good into something bad. And sadly, the trend usually catches on. The following is a little something for the astute computer user to watch for.

Hey, Look What I Found… A USB Plug-In!

Now, if you’re at an Expo or have been handed a promotional USB plug-in by someone reputable, that’s not a problem. “I found” might be good when it comes to a $20 bill, but not so much when it comes to a USB drive. Apparently, someone uploaded a less than desirable program onto a bunch of USB flash drives and then scattered them all over a public building. What ensued was nothing short of organized chaos when people picked them up and absently plugged them into their work computer. A natural reaction. Sadly, these USB flash drives proceeded to download their undesirable program onto these work computers. Oops.

Don’t Be Taken In

Again, USB flash drives are a very popular promotional item and when used as such can be extremely beneficial to the receiver and to the company giving them away. Leave it to one bad apple to spoil the whole bunch and in this case, unless you’re sure where that USB flash drive is coming, from you may want to avoid using it. It’s the age old adage – if something seems too good to be true… It probably is. Finding a $20 bill – awesome. Finding a seemingly harmless, discarded USB drive and plugging it in, even if it’s way cool looking – guess again.

ALERT!! Did you believe this story? Well it is only partially true. In actuality this was a stunt pulled by the powers that be in homeland security. An experiment or test if you will. Sadly, most people failed the exam.