The thumb drive sits on the edge of the table, carefully wrapped in cellophane and surrounded by the other promotional materials from the SWAG bag left by the Chamber of Commerce. It was a very nice gesture, and you’re giving serious thought to the guided tour of local brewpubs pictured in one of the brochures, but you eye the thumb drive with suspicion. And rightfully so.

Once considered the cutting edge of marketing bling, the ubiquitous USB platform has evolved into a weapon of cyber chaos. What appears to be a friendly greeting with catchy graphics can turn menacing in a matter of minutes. It is especially disconcerting when the comforting squeeze of a teddy bear wreaks havoc, as described in this quick presentation.

Faster Than the Bear

To stay a step ahead of the USB teddy bears and keep your data safe, ICS recommends bi-annual penetration testing of your network. Given the number of thumb drives circulating within and beyond your organization, the threat is real and the response is two-fold.

External pen testing uses ethical hackers to simulate an attack from the thumb drives you picked up at the conference last month in Vegas. Contrary to popular belief, not everything that happens in Vegas stays there.

Internal pen testing places ethical hackers in the roles of your staff, with all that access and proximity affords them, and simulates attacks from the inside. You never know where that thumb drive on Ted’s keychain has been, but you probably don’t want it on your network.

Be Safe. Get Tested.

ICS offers a variety of services to assess your network’s vulnerability, and our clients give us a rating of “Two Thumbs Up” for customer service and cybersecurity expertise. After all, you can’t spell security without ICS. Give us a call today.