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Question

Seagate 4TB Backup Plus Security Question

Dec 1, 2014 2:13PM PST

I have a Seagate 4TB Plus Backup that did not come with an on/off switch so it stays on all of the time. I am worried that when I am on the internet someone could hack into my system and copy what I have on the backup drive. The drive is connected by a USB cable.

I guess I could disconnect it by pulling the USB but I don't want to have to do this. Any assistance is appreciated.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
So you could eject it?
Dec 1, 2014 2:25PM PST

On my machine here I can eject my USB drive and to reconnect I can either reboot or use device manager to scan for devices.

Just asking. What risky thing are you doing on the internet that is causing you some concern?

That is, at the office we go months between scans and find nothing but a few tracking cookies.
Bob

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Nothing Risky But
Dec 1, 2014 8:58PM PST

But I have some personal financial info. stored on my Seagate Backup. This is not a thumbdrive but a stand
alone backup. A thumbdrive I know can easly be disconnected but the Backup is always connected and on. there is no on/off switch. I am just worried that a hacker could see what my financial info is since it is always on and connected to the internet.

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Re: thumb drive
Dec 1, 2014 9:04PM PST

An external disk can just as easily be connected and disconnected as a USB-stick: jut pull out the cable from the PC. And while it's connected and turned on, it's just as easy for you to delete a file on it and just as easy for ransomware to encrypt it and just as easy to be corrupted if there is some hardware error.

So I wouldn't call it backup what you do.

Kees

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That's no backup.
Dec 2, 2014 1:10AM PST

Nod to Kees. Even if we use the usual USB eject, malware has become very sophisticated. The only good news is that 99% or all that I ran into in the past decade was installed by the owner. It was usually some social engineering or a download such as "download this to play our videos" that installed the beast.
Bob

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Answer
(NT) Isn't it password protected?
Dec 2, 2014 1:46AM PST
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(NT) Won't stop malicious software from encrypting sectors, etc.
Dec 2, 2014 10:29AM PST
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Answer
Just unplug it
Dec 2, 2014 5:53PM PST

If you are concern about privacy. Its just like a usb thumb drive.