I was working at the lasers and noticed we had a large collection of USB Flash Drives looking for their home…
If your missing one, please swing by and pick it up [they are corralled in a lost and found box at the laser computers] - @Yeda_Steele, @Rena_B, and @evebutterly I think yours are in here.
What has helped me in the past is I add a “READ_ME.TXT” file with my name, phone #, and email address.
For those without flash drives but need to transfer files, you can:
Email the file to yourself [or your @dallasmakerspace.org email address]. Just log in at the laser computer [in an “incognito” tab] and transfer it to your member directory
OR transfer it directly to your member directory by remote desktop to the jump server from home
Creating a PM in TALK with appropriate title (e.g. “Klein Bottle Vcarve Files”) and attach files to PM and just send to myself so it is now always there.
Also, I always put a simple text file on all my removable media named “_OwnerInfo.txt” (underscore so it sorts to top on Windows systems) and put short blurb with my contact details in it.
I know this isn’t the case, but in my past job as a HIPAA consultant I used to teach the security risks associated with USB drives.
A famous case involved a medical facility who had a data breach caused by a USB that was purposely dropped in the parking lot next to a group of cars. Someone took it inside to see what it contained to identify who it belonged to and someone had put a file on it that was named "_this_USB_Belongs_TO: and the person innocently enough opened the file and it infected the drives at the facility. It contained a virus that stole medical records from the facility.
I know DMS people are great but just beware that there are those out there who are less trustworthy.
I would at a minimum run a virus checker on the drive before opening any files.
Here’s an interesting post about the “Dropped USB Hack”
Also, here’s something known in the HIPAA world as the “Wall of Shame”. These are medical organizations currently under investigation for unauthorized ePHI (Personal Health Information) being lost.
It isn’t just viruses located in the storage medium of a USB Flash Drive. There have been reports of devices that appear to be a normal USB Drive, but instead contain a small microcontroller similar to an Arduino. When connected, the device simulates mouse and keyboard inputs to immediately open a Command Prompt Window, hide it offscreen, then run commands to download who-knows-what to that machine.
Yet another reason to not blindly trust unknown USB Devices…
