[Osiris]

Malware Infects Nearly 75% of Systems at Base in Afghanistan

I’m sure most of you heard about the military banning the use of USB drives and other removable media earlier this month. The reason for the ban is just coming to light and the LA Times has the scoop: a malware outbreak at the largest US military base in Afghanistan that affected almost 75% of the systems there.

The invasive software, known as agent.btz, has circulated among nongovernmental U.S. computers for months. But only recently has it affected the Pentagon's networks. …The malware is able to spread to any flash drive plugged into an infected computer. The risk of spreading the malware to other networks prompted the military to ban the drives.