Perfectly Protected USB Flash Drive

[pandlouk]

USB Flash drives are great for moving around our data, sharing photos, documents etc. with friends and colleges but unfortunately if we plug them in an infected machine they can get infected too.

Here is a tip to immunize your Flash Drive.

1. First you must go to "folder options" and disable the "simple file sharing" feature.


http://img378.imageshack.us/img378/873/83802039ks8.jpg

2. Then you must format your flash as ntfs. If the windows do not allow you to do it, you must change the hardware policy of the flsh drive to “optimise for performance”. After that windows will allow you to format it as ntfs.


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3. Then right click the flash drive and select the "Security" tab. There you must eliminate all the group and user names. This will allow us to make our extra secure custom permissions.


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4. Now we must go to the "advanced" security settings


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5. Select the "Owner" tab and replace the owner with your account name. Select apply and ok.


http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/6053/81735187jp4.jpg (expired)

6. Enter again at the advanced settings and at the "Permissions" tab you should see your account name. Select it, check the “replace permissions entries…” and apply your settings.


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7. Now select “add”


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8. At the new window select “advanced”, “find now”, select “Everyone” and press OK.


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http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/9934/8cki2.jpg (expired)

9. Check the “Allow” column at the "Read Attributes" for “Everyone”.


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http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/9577/9bju4.jpg (expired)

10. Return at the generic Security tab and give Full Control at your account.


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11. For “Everyone” select allow only for the “Read & Execute” attributes.


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12. Now your flash drive is immune against all attacks. (Only raw access on the disk will bypass your protection).

If you want you can also create a folder with write permissions for “everyone”. This way you can easily copy files to your flash drive when it is not connected at your pc.


Panagiotis

[HURST]

Excellent guide!
Thanks for sharing

SRP for flash drives

[KIMW]

Hi, Can anyone explain me how I can see the images together with the text in this thread

[LowWaterMark]

You can't. pandlouk didn't upload the images to the forum, so, they can't be displayed inline within the thread. Also, 3 of the images appear to have expired from imageshack, so they are no longer available from there either.

Edit: All set. pandlouk regenerated the missing images and I have localized the others to display inline within the thread.

[KIMW]

!!!THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

It was my first post in this forum and I see that you LowWaterMark are very fast for answering and you pandlouk very fast for acting. Thank's both of you!!!

I have been looking around for a solution to protect my USB drive efficiently and this way seems to be the best. Pandlouk this tutorial is great and so helpful! Nevertheless, I have a question... My actual USB drive is FAT32 and if I format it in NTFS is it going to work as fast as in FAT32...?

[pandlouk]

Originally Posted by KIMW

!!!THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

It was my first post in this forum and I see that you LowWaterMark are very fast for answering and you pandlouk very fast for acting. Thank's both of you!!!

I have been looking around for a solution to protect my USB drive efficiently and this way seems to be the best. Pandlouk this tutorial is great and so helpful! Nevertheless, I have a question... My actual USB drive is FAT32 and if I format it in NTFS is it going to work as fast as in FAT32...?

You are welcome

Thanks to LowWaterMark now my tutorial appears as it should.

- I can't tell if it's the best way for protecting a usb drive; but is the most secure.

- Yes, it is, almost, as fast as fat32. Only pay attention not to use ntfs on small drives(<1gb) because it will limit a lot the free space of the drive. And to always use the eject button.

Panagiotis

ps.The windows xp home users must download and install the freeware FaJo XP File Security Extension (XP FSE) for being able to to view/change the access rights.