Does end-users spontaneously connect USB sticks fiund in public places to their personal or professional computers ?
To this end, a controlled experiment was carried out in Luxembourg, where 250 USB sticks were voluntarily “lost”. The results revealed a high success rate, estimated around 20%, with the first connection recorded in just a few minutes. We believe that these users are acting out of curiosity or altruistic intent, seeking to identify or restore the owner of the key.
However, they do not perceive the risks associated with their gesture. The study highlights the persistence of USB key attacks as an effective intrusion vector, and underscores the need to make users more aware of the dangers they represent.