Advice Request procedure for suspicious removable media

[Tom BE]

Hi,

From time to time, i receive an usb stick from friends "you should check this out".
I am reluctant to just plug in an unknown usb stick or drive (even with a virusscanner installed)

I am looking for the safest way to check if these media are clean.

One idea was to download a live cd and burn it onto a bootable dvd.
Are there any distro's that can check usb sticks (and even "catch" virus/malware that spread upon plugging in) ?
Or is there a better way ?

thank you, Tom

 

[Prorootect]

Hello Tom, welcome here on MT!

Use MCShield in Safe Mode (without Networking)?

 

[Atlas147]

Shadow Defender is a good way to protect the entire computer from any changes, although the cons is that it can be quite a hassle activate it when plugging in and immediately restarting the computer after you're done with the USB media. Of course an additional precaution would be to disable your internet access while doing this so your data is kept airgapped in the computer in the case malware is installed.

 

[harlan4096]

Apart to use any specific tool to scan external plugged devices, You should disable in Windows the "auto play/run" for all external devices:
Windows 10 Tip: Manage AutoPlay Actions for External Devices

 

[Tom BE]

Hi and thanks for the welcome.

Thanks for the two programs, but how are they updated?
I appreciate the tip for disabling the autoplay feature, but am not convince (enough) that it would prevent any threat ?

Thank you very much for your advice, very appreciated.

 

[Electr0n]

Hi and thanks for the welcome.

Thanks for the two programs, but how are they updated?
I appreciate the tip for disabling the autoplay feature, but am not convince (enough) that it would prevent any threat ?

Thank you very much for your advice, very appreciated.

On the GUI of the McShield there is an option for update, so you can manually update it from there

 

[illumination]

I appreciate the tip for disabling the autoplay feature, but am not convince (enough) that it would prevent any threat ?

If you disable autoplay, the files can not execute without you physically doing so, which allows you to scan the drive with any tool you wish to use to check it. The advice @harlan4096 has provided is the best in this thread, everyone should have this disabled and utilize/scan their removable drives manually.

 

[Tom BE]

Thank you for the replies.

McShield does not have a mac version :-(
Can a mac be infected via an usb stick and if so, how can it be avoided before i can let it scan by avast?

Thank you,
Tom.