So let me get this straight. You live in an average size North American city with a population of about a million. There have been billions, perhaps zillions of USB thumb drives manufactured over the decades. Every day there are thousands of potential situations where a completely normal and anonymous schmuck like you and me has the right conditions to drop a USB key. Maybe you had one in your backpack and it fell out. Maybe you have a hole in your pants. This can happen every day, in every city.
So now you’re walking down the street and see a USB key on the ground, and your first thought is “IRAAAAAN!! THEY WANT TO STEAL THE $12.15 IN MY CHECKINGS ACCOUNT!!! BECAUSE THEY KNOW MY EVERY MOVEMENT AND LOCATION TO PLANT THIS LUDICROUSLY COMPLEX AND CONVULTED USB KEY APPROACH TO $12!!!”
I suppose you watch the news and see a picture of a coronavirus and think “My God, it’s a WWII naval mine and IT’S COMING RIGHT AT MEEEEEEE!!!”
You see a USB key on the ground, you pick it up and plug it in. The unvaccinated Russian larva can be sterilized by sunlight.
ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org 7 hours ago
You can use a crap old PC with a fresh OS install, then wipe it. Or a DVD player if you only need the file list (those can usually only open JPGs, GIFs, MP3s, and MPGs or AVIs with one of the video codecs allowed on VCDs/DVDs).