What is SD Card Security?
A Secure Digital (SD) card is a small removable memory card that can be inserted into a number of consumer electronics, including digital cameras, laptop computers, printers, smartphones, and video game consoles, in order to save, store, and transfer data. SD cards come in three tiers describing memory capacity ranges: Standard SD cards go up to 2GB; SDHC (High Capacity) cards range from 4GB to 32GB, and SDXC (Extended Capacity) cards go from 64GB up to 2TB. Similar to USB devices, SD cards can become infected with viruses or malware. Scenarios where SD cards can be infected with viruses or malware include:
- Browsing malicious websites while using the SD card
- Transferring infected files to the SD card
- Connecting the SD card to a virus-infected system
- Having viruses or malware installed by a threat actor
The following symptoms may indicate that your SD card has become infected with a virus:
- Data stored on the device cannot be viewed;
- Private information on the SD card goes missing;
- Files on the SD card go missing;
- Files on the SD card get erased, without warning;
- Some files become hidden;
- Losing the ability to read or write anything on your device;
- Memory card error message appears when trying to delete unwanted files;
- SD card becomes inaccessible;
- SD card infects other connected devices.
SD card infections can be protected from virus and malware infections by using the following tips:
Password. Use the SD card’s password protection feature to limit the number of users who have access to the SD card. Use a strong password to make it more difficult for cyberattackers to access the SD card contents.
Physical locks. Use physical locks and protected cases to prevent threat actors from accessing the SD card.
Encryption. Employ encryption services that anonymize the data, making it impossible for threat actors to access the SD card data without the required decryption key.
Enable write protection. Use the write lock to prevent data stored on the device from being deleted and new data from being added.
Do not buy used DS cards. Used SD cards often contain data from the previous owners, and there is also a risk that they can contain viruses or malware.
Backup. Regularly back up SD card data so that you can recover it in the event of a cyberattack.