14 DAY TRIAL // The infamous AutorunInf Trojan and the Conficker worm are threats that show up in most of the quarterly or yearly reports released by security solutions providers and it’s well known that one of their favorite ways of spreading is via USB storage devices utilized by computer users to transfer data from one machine to the other.
Bitdefender comes to the aid of individuals who rely on USB memory sticks, SD cards, and portable hard drives in their daily activities, with the USB Immunizer.
The free utility’s main purpose is to mitigate threats designed to step into play as soon as the storage unit on which they're hosted is plugged in.
USB Immunizer is easy to operate. Customers can use the Immunize option to secure their devices against autorun-based malware. Once this feature is active, the pesky autorun.inf files that execute the malicious elements cannot be created.
The tool can also be utilized to protect the entire computer. By toggling the Immunize Computer button to the On position, pieces of malware that reside on newly plugged in storage units will be prevented from executing, even if the device hasn't been immunized.
The latest Bitdefender USB Immunizer comes with some interesting improvements. First of all, an auto-updater has been implemented to allow customers to easily install new updates.
Secondly, starting with the 2.0.0.8 variant, users can immunize several USB devices at once, a feature unavailable in previous versions.
We will also take the opportunity to remind everyone that the pieces of malware that usually spread in this manner should not be taken lightly. For instance, the Conficker worm mentioned earlier can easily turn a computer into a botnet zombie.
This particular threat infects millions of computers each year and as Microsoft experts have highlighted, the techniques it leverages in order to spread are highly clever.
Bitdefender USB Immunizer is available for download here