Malware-loaded USB sticks have been posted to homes in Australia

“The USB drives are believed to be extremely harmful and members of the public are urged to avoid plugging them into their computers or other devices”, said the Victoria authorities in a statement.

Residents of Pakenham, a suburb of Melbourne, have reportedly found the unmarked sticks in the boxes.

It is not uncommon for USB sticks to be used to carry and transmit destructive malware and viruses to computers. It should go without saying that any drive or other USB peripheral discovered on the ground, or in a mailbox should never be inserted into a computer, otherwise the user runs the risk of getting all kinds of nasty code installed.

Stuxnet, one of the most sophisticated known pieces of malware, was deployed to attack Iranian nuclear centrifuges. Authorities also did not mention the extent of the damage caused to computers after people used the USB sticks.

Now you don’t even have to be on the internet to be infected with malicious software. The Chinese-manufactured USB devices were sent to some 37,000 United States dentists.

Needless to say, you should never put unknown or suspicious drives in your computer at any time, as the result could very well lead to a pricey fix bill to remove nefarious programs or even identity theft, which is much more pricey than just buying a new USB drive yourself.

“In a controlled experiment at the University of IL, we find that the attack both effective with an estimated 45%-98% of dropped drives connected and expeditious with the first drive connected in under six minutes”, the paper concluded. They could load them with malware that infects the system without the user realizing.