Write$-$Protecting a USB Flash Drive

Malicious software is often spread from one computer to another by infected USB flash drives. This can be controlled by write$-$protecting the drive so that no malware can be copied to it$.$ In this project, you will download and install a software$-$based USB write blocker to prevent data from being written to a USB device. You will need a USB flash drive for this project.

Please submit a screen shot from Step $14.$

$1.$ Open your web browser and enter the URL www$.$irongeek.com$/$i$.$php$?$page$=$security $/$thumbscrew$-$software$-$usb$-$write$-$blocker $($if you are no longer able to access the pro$-$ gram through the URL, use a search engine to search for $$Irongeek Thumbscrew$).$

$2.$ Click Download Thumbscrew. $3.$ If the File Download dialog box appears, click Save and follow the instructions to save

this file in a location such as your desktop or a folder designated by your instructor.

$4.$ When the file finishes downloading, extract the files in a location such as your desktop or a folder designated by your instructor. Navigate to that location and double$-$click thumbscrew.exe and follow the default installation procedures.

$5.$ After installation, notice that a new icon appears in the system tray in the lower right corner of the screen.

$6.$ Insert a USB flash drive into the computer.

$7.$ Navigate to a document on the computer.

$8.$ Right$-$click the document and then select Send to$.$

$9.$ Click the appropriate Removable Disk icon of the USB flash drive to copy the file to the flash drive.

$10.$ Now make the USB flash drive write protected so it cannot be written to$.$ Click the

icon in the system tray.

$11.$ Click Make USB Read Only. Notice that a red circle now appears over the icon to indicate that the flash drive is write protected.

$12.$ Navigate to a document on the computer.

$13.$ Right$-$click the document and then select Send to$.$

$14.$ Click the appropriate Removable Disk icon of the USB flash drive to copy the file to the flash drive. What happens?

$15.$ Click the icon in the system tray to change the permissions so that the USB drive is no longer read only.

$16.$ Close all windows.