ADA warns of malware on flash drive

The ADA inadvertently sent its members flash drives infected with malicious software in late 2015.

The infected USB drives were sent as part of the 2016 CDT manual, which included the flash drives in the back pocket, according to an ADA statement. A "small percentage" of the flash drives contained malware, which was transferred to the drives from the subcontractor of an ADA vendor, the organization said.

The ADA informed all customers via email or letter of the issue, and it worked with resellers and distributors to ensure their customers were notified.

The notifications included the following:

• Antivirus software should detect the malware.
• Customers who had not used the flash drive should discard it.

If customers had already used the flash drive and it worked as expected by displaying a menu linking to chapters of the 2016 CDT manual, then the flash drive was not infected, according to the ADA.

The ADA gave customers links to an electronic version of the 2016 CDT manual as an alternative to the flash drive. Fewer than 10 people have reported infected flash drives, the organization noted.