I found two USB drives on the ground in a bushy area. I'm curious about what might be stored on them, but I don't want to risk infecting my own devices with malware. Would it be irresponsible to take them to a library and connect them to one of the public computers, or is there a safe way to inspect them?
3 Answers
Yes, that would be a bad idea. You’d be taking a risk you chose to accept and shifting it onto the library, its computers, and everyone who uses them afterward. The safest option is not to plug the drives into anything.
A virtual machine can reduce the risk from ordinary malware, but it isn’t a perfect solution. USB devices can exploit hardware or operating-system vulnerabilities, and some malicious devices can damage the computer electrically rather than just infecting it. Unless you really know what you’re doing, the drives aren’t worth investigating.
If the drives might belong to someone nearby, you could turn them in to the property desk or ask the relevant organization whether they have a safe procedure for handling found storage devices. Otherwise, dispose of them without connecting them to a computer. They’re probably ordinary files, but curiosity isn’t a good reason to expose public equipment or other people’s data.
Even an isolated virtual machine doesn’t protect against a device designed to send damaging voltage through the USB port. Using an old, disposable computer would reduce the consequences, but there’s still no good reason to take the risk.