The introduction of the Autorun feature was brought to our Windows systems way back in the day when Windows 95 was around. It was a great idea of allowing things like game and application installs to automatically launch themselves whenever a CD or DVD was inserted into the drive. This is quite a big help to the novice and inexperienced users because they don’t have to do anything to trigger an installer or specified piece of software. The idea behind Autorun is simple with a file called Autorun.inf located in the root of the media containing a command to execute the required program. The inf file is looked for, and if found, is read when the disk is inserted.
With the invention of USB drives and sticks, the Autorun feature has been the target of attack from viruses, Trojans and other malicious software. This is because of the ease at which the Autorun.inf can be replaced and then pointed to start the malicious executable, and begin the infection as soon as the device is inserted into a machine. The ease at which these viruses can then travel from system to system with the aid of the unwitting user poses a major security risk. It would come as no surprise to anyone that Autorun based threats have been one of the most common forms of infection over recent years.
Windows 7 has Autorun disabled by default for all devices except those of type ‘Drive_CDrom’ although the slightly different Autoplay function can still be used. Other versions of Windows can also now be patched to behave in a similar way. Even if your own machines might be invulnerable to the Autorun virus threats, it doesn’t automatically mean other peoples PC’s are as well, especially if they are running a pre Windows 7 operating system. Connect an infected USB stick into their PC and it won’t take long for the virus to transfer itself across.
It still makes some sense then, that if you frequently use USB sticks or portable hard drives, doing all you can to help prevent any Autorun type threats installing themselves on the devices, is important.
A free utility to help you tackle this problem is Bitdefender USB Immunizer. Although it’s been out a little while, the latest version has had a bit of a GUI face lift and has also added the ability to immunize several devices with ease. The principle is simple; USB Immunizer creates an empty write protected Autorun.inf file on the USB device which prevents any malicious software from installing its own file and therefore nothing can be automatically launched upon insertion.
The program is a completely portable standalone executable, so simply run it making sure there is a USB stick or hard drive ready to be attached.
The main window will display the plugged in devices and a red glow to the icon indicates it is not immunized. The green glow shows an already immunized device. Just follow the simple instruction and click on a red device and create the protected Autorun.inf file.
There is an option by clicking on the ‘cog’ icon in the window, to enable auto immunization whenever a USB device is attached. It’s probably better to leave this option though, and do it on a manual basis in case it immunizes a drive you don’t want it to.
It’s worth pointing out that this type of program doesn’t remove threats or kill viruses and will not replace any of your security software, but does a useful task of helping prevent threats that use Autorun to spread themselves. The Bitdefender FAQ also mentions that the created Autorun.inf file cannot be deleted under Windows because of the security measures that have been put in place. You will either need to delete it using a computer running Linux or OS X or reformat the drive.
Compatible with Windows XP, Vista and 7 32bit and 64bit.
FAT, FAT32 and NTFS file systems are supported.
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