Old IT guy told me to never trust a free USB drive and he was dead right

Back in 2019 at a conference in Austin Texas this retired sysadmin grabbed my arm when I was about to plug a promo USB stick into my laptop. He said those things are loaded with payloads more often than not. I laughed it off but a month later a buddy from the same conference plugged one in and got hit with ransomware that cost his repair shop $1500. Now I treat every unknown USB like it's covered in ants.

2 comments

2 Comments

benb2111h ago

Wait, that guy actually got hit with ransomware from a conference USB?

gavinh2610h ago

People love to pile on when something goes wrong, but I'd wager this is more about carelessness than the conference being at fault. Every USB from a hotel or convention center should be treated like a stray dog until you know better, which is just basic common sense in 2025. Blaming the event organizers for someone plugging a random drive into their work laptop seems like a convenient way to avoid taking personal responsibility.