I have spent some time thinking about how to make my portable computing smaller, easier and more efficient. In fact, I've even posted a few tips. However, as with most things related to the cyber world: the easier, more portable and convenient things get for the consumer, the easier and more convenient they become for the black hats and want to be hackers/crackers and others who wish to spoil our digital life.

Case in point is the most recent disturbing trend of hardrive, flash drive and compact flash cards that have preinstalled malware before they even reach your shopping bag. In fact, in some cases the bug riddled hardware may even be given away free at conferences. That free flash drive may cost you dearly, however. So, are the vendors biting the hand that feeds them? Probably not. However, insecure supply chains and retailer return policies that place opened, and sometimes infected hardware back on the shelves may be partially to blame.

So, what can you do to protect your valuable data assets? Here are a few of the tips I practice myself and recomend that clients consider:

1. Turn off autorun options in your Windows based boxes. Here is a brief how to from Microsoft.


2. Do not accept a freebie flash drive from anyone. Especially those who look out of place or not associated with a reputable vendor.


3. When connecting your new USB storage device, isolate the computer that you will connect it to from the rest of your network.


4. Immediately reformat the device to clean off any potential malware.

Hopefully, these tips will help keep you and your data safe. Do you have other tips? If so, please share!