By following these three easy steps, you can prevent hackers from accessing your USB keys

There is no doubt that one of the main sources that lead to the emergence of problems at the level of performance of your computer is malicious USB disks. For example, it is very easy to infect a USB key or external hard drive if you connect it to a computer located in a public place, library, internet cafe, school, or even in your own business. Therefore, computers can sometimes be a fertile environment for viruses and other malware, so in today's article we will share with you the safe way to protect USB keys and disks as much as possible in order to avoid any type of infection that negatively affects your personal data.

Install antivirus on USB key

The first thing you need to do to protect your USB drives from viruses is to install the free antivirus program Bitdefender USB Immunizer, which I will attach the download link for at the bottom of the page, After installation

You plug in the USB key, then double-click on the file named “BDUSBImmunizerLauncher” and follow the installation procedures; after that, you activate the wrench icon in the center of the screen (it turns green once it is locked).

Encrypt files on your USB drive with Toucan

In the second step, you download the Toucan program that is used to backup, sync, and encrypt files on USB keys. To do this, you select the Toucan folder on your computer screen, then copy it to your USB key, and then create a folder named “SCrypt” that will contain the files you want to protect.

After you have placed the files you want to encrypt in the Scrypt folder, launch Toucan from your USB key and select the "Security" tab. In the left pane, select the "SCrypt" folder for the key and click on the + icon between the two windows. If the "Encrypt" button is activated at the top of the window, click "Execute," enter a password, and confirm it. Click "OK" and finally "Close" (the files placed in the SCrypt folder are displayed with the.cpt extension). To decrypt them, open Toucan, select the files, and activate the "Decrypt" and "Execute" buttons.

Control writing and reading with USB Disk Manager

To lock your USB drives or control the execution of programs that contain them, I suggest you download a small utility called USB Disk Manager. After installation, you connect your USB flash drive and start USB Disk Manager. Once the program starts, on the left click on the option "Write Protect," and then on the right click on "Enable Write Protection" to prevent writing on your USB drive as shown in the picture, then remove the USB drive and reconnect it, and that's it.