We are currently saving more and more important documents on our devices. If before it was just a few simple photos and some music, today we practically have an entire life on a PC. And many of those files They have to be stored safely, given its importance for work or studies, or even being confidential material. What do most people do? You save it on a USB stick, usually the cheapest one on the nearest market, and that is a major risk.
We must think about the security of our data and files like we're keeping our cash in a safe. Would your safe be a box from an IKEA modular shelf? With all the love in the world, but no. Therefore, we must not skimp on the security of our data, and that is why we explain here the risks of saving files on a USB memory.
Let's make it clear that we do not want to demonize USB drives. Simply, the act of saving so much and so important in a fairly insecure medium, such as general USB flash drives. Many professionals use USB flash drives to carry important documentation, but They are USB flash drives with several layers of security and encryption.
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Most importantly, USB flash drives are easy to get corrupted
We're not just talking about leaving the USB memory in a pair of pants that you put in the washing machine. But you can accidentally give it away by having it near magnets. They also tend to be storage devices with very low security capable of being infected by all types of malware, such as Trojans, viruses or even ransomware. It is also possible that it suffers formatting due to malware or human error.
In these cases where the files are corrupt, we will have to go through a recovery option repair a pendrive to try to recover the data. There is dedicated software that, if the information has not been rewritten, can recover certain files.
The importance of write protection
Ideally, you should make USB drives that contain data that you won't change very often, but that you find useful or important, have write protection. It is a small layer of security to prevent files from being modified without permission. An evil agent would have to use various forms of remove write protection of the files, and there it passes to the dilemma of crackers and ransomware agents if the time invested justifies the revenue that is going to be obtained from it.
If you use USB memory, first, make sure it is of quality and has added security.
If for different reasons you have to use a small, portable USB memory, at least try to make it as secure as possible. One of any small brand is used to transfer files between physically separated devices, such as taking something to print to a copy shop, or transferring DRM-free games to a fleet of PCs at a LAN party, for example. They are very low risk things.
But when we are talking about a device with private and personal elements such as documents, IDs, contracts or any other element, it would be an option to consider a memory that had encryption chips, or password access. It sounds exaggerated, but we are talking about users whose files are of great importance as professionals.
But even normal people should be interested. Either in case you lose it, no one can gossip about the USB memory content.
First of all, make every backup you can.
The basis of all this is that you should make as many backup copies of your important files as you can. On your mobile, on an external hard drive, on your PC's second storage, on all the clouds you may have, on a NAS... The idea is that if one of these methods fails, you can replace it and repair it at any time if file loss occurs.
USB sticks are not a secure backup. Simply the fact that they are easy to lose should be a warning that they should not be used to store anything valuable and irreplaceable. Or that if you do, that you have many other backup copies. Even if it is, put a bulky keychain that makes noise so that you can locate a USB memory in bags and pants so that it doesn't get lost as much.
For sysadmins and security experts there is the 3-2-1 backup protocol: 3 backups, 2 of them in the cloud and 1 offline copy. Does a cloud fail? You have another. Both? You have the copy online. The offline copy? You have two copies in the cloud. The idea is to minimize the chances that all the content you have deposited is lost by accident or by a ransomware attack. This is why USB flash drives are such a risk, whether physical or due to their poor security.
