The Rise of AutoRun - Based Malware

Seeing the popularity of removable storage, virus authors realized the potential of using this media as an infection vector. And they are greatly aided by a convenience feature in operating systems called AutoRun, which launches the content on a removable disk without any user interaction. This paper traces the advancements in AutoRun-based malware. It also discusses methods to proactively detect and stop malware that spreads via removable drives, using a combination of traditional antimalware and cloud-computing techniques.