A Woman Was Arrested For Carrying Malware Infected USB

A Chinese Woman brought Malware Infected USB to Mar-a-Lago Resort

Not long ago, Donald Trump paid his 23rd visit to Mar-a-Lago since his became the president of United States. During the visit, a Chinese woman was arrested by the Secret Service of US. Why? That is simply because she walked into the private Florida club of Donald Trump (trying to enter the reception area of the Mar-a-Lago resort) and wants to get access to the government computer. The malicious software was downloaded immediately when the Secret Service agent inserted a USB drive which is infected with malware into the laptop.

In addition to the malware infected USB, there are other devices that are found with the Chinese woman: a passport, a laptop, an external hard drive, and four cellphones.

Study of the Woman and the USB Flash Drive Malware

According to research, the Secret Service agent found the woman is named Yujing Zhang. The law-enforcement officers then conducted a search of her hotel room and found a signal detector. The detector was used to find a lot of things: five SIM cards, nine USB drives, hidden cameras, and $8,000 in cash. Though there is no clear answer of what kind of malware was contained in the infected USB drive, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared that Zhang may be a Chinese spy.

Agent Samuel Ivanovich attended and testified in court; he said that he was connected the malware infected USB to his computer and found files were installed in a “very out-of-the-ordinary” way. Then, he stopped the analysis rapidly.

The cybersecurity experts disagree with Ivanovich’s action. They said that the dangerous virus, ransomware, or malware may have been transferred from the USB drive onto the government device.

Here is the useful ransomware prevention policy.

As a taxpayer, I’m very concerned about where Agent Ivanovich’s laptop is and where it’s been since he plugged a malicious USB into it. If this was the Secret Service quick reaction playbook, perhaps Zhang planned to get caught all along (not joking).– tweeted by Jake Williams, who’s a cybersecurity expert and former National Security Agency hacker.

The Security Alarm of Mar-a-Lago Resort

In 2017, a foreign policy meeting was held by US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the middle of the Mar-a-Lago dining room. Since then, this place was regarded as vulnerable. ProPublica and Gizmodo then started to test the security of the club; they found: it’s easy for anyone to get access to the WiFi network of Mar-a-Lago. In addition, the Mar-a-Lago itself should be blamed for the insufficient control of the access from visitors to the facility. The Secret Service noted this quickly.

All in all, the security of Mar-a-Lago resort needs to be improved!

Possible Damage

One question is raised up after the arrest: what kind of damage could the malware infected USB drive brings to us?

Though Yujing Zhang said she was only to trying to visit the pool and didn’t know that the USB drive was infected, there’s potential risk indeed.

• The USB drive can monitor how to invade the network.
• The USB drive can also allow hackers to get more information about how to invade the network.

In addition, there are other serious damages that could be brought by a USB flash drive.

There is no accurate answer on how to remove virus from pen drive. You can try both the USB malware scanner and powerful antivirus program.

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