Also in the news: DOD bans removable drives due to virus

Rapidly-moving virus threatens Defense Department systems.

The Defense Department has banned the use of removable media such as USB thumb drives, flash cards and CDs because of a malware attack by a rapidly spreading virus, according to Wired.


The virus is a variation of a three year old worm called SillyFDC which spreads by copying itself from one piece of removable media to another. When plugged into another computer the virus will automatically download code from another location.

The ban is also considered part of an overall program by the DOD to expand a defense-in-depth strategy for defending its networks, another Wired article says.