Found a USB Flash Drive

First off, apologies if this is in the wrong section, but I presume the Mods will patch it to where the correct place should be
As you are aware, flash drives are handy little devices. I found one when I was waiting for my train, a handy 2GB flash drive. Nothing remarkable about it. No name, no inscription apart from Kingston Data Traveller. When I got home, I plugged it into the port, virus checked it (clean), and found 3 files. The first has garbled code it seems over 26 pages of it. The second is a pdf file which has a password protecting it. The third also has garbled code, but with some numbers tagged onto the end of it.
I’ve no idea what the files are, and since they appear encrypted don’t think there are any issues with displaying them

dNIItp5TXcqeElNUWWW3ZMg0jjQ0KxoxscgPyCzZy3wzjF0/QZTSUvhQKb7HYxjaVvdw0pa26FEpyBaz+kzWMqE1qCj

I+AkhX6yofBlWuwIhnOTIguPQ6YaeEMVko9iDCkH8BsrVU6WZcfno8nzWgqN7f/6YiaSSsiFaQ5mAGMi6gqP+ZGHePs

HWKI/Dkel6m4LeQ9XgPZNe6Tm4L8m1+wNEuENLLp2WhAO9ScMX+fOropY6IZXSY2anJQ7xcnztH/c87WxOA6Ti4mEG7

5NSj6MnGVjnBZO0n8hBtK/0LXPsY2EfDYMxQiGeIwJmMgZop+XM6mYqkwbibNeASw3XHUJJeM4umy6x5XsEer/rqYN6

BJmlsm1gCRXV/j9l5fMRQV0xA6iDg4I8XTPSKWFsjaP6GRQ1EvgAntXKY/cZAVTzvFh04Rc9pJZdcGwPW7xfcBYpK87

npPHe+uaBmgU/ftDzy8Mwrr42YQR1ExH2oCdR7xpiaFRKmYsAyUBpoYZ/DqweiCOVBPHxe1IRtfOeQ513l8wHzEMwvr

5TsL0ib/CwyhB0wRQK5BQbVzSP2LkFsm6+s0sFRLW9xQs+WxiZSoYuadOXKODUlgHmfGxCAY1etj+jWwcFZ8Mdz9AXD

C20f2SVDVlnihyyOC4eHwkcDdy6BsibN3PT34VrilbVpgpycYl94fvafVVdUgoJABJKNDQQ8Ap21KOMgrvZLV1H21vO

2OGpAwjzNAPIGSps/3mqxj2WrYe9m6C8ZqKygjnMLFQaATjJHP0qHlRMbi5sjQukHu+aCEOTIvqD3Gr8wymOMU0DG+j

F+sJvdFMKUXQWV8/UglC8+4a/9BiJJS+9f5gud3Z+4dRFYh9Af2FkihjgB4mx0pUsegPaj7dIk7D1lvenctDOrS8f1Q

FUORZG8YIyBiEnyqB9c2FJqnDZOKqeMltlXeezh12eLrmh50xKIUCtFxXI5x30vO1trCXvXP5oaQdTQLmPFUXUrSBxA

BbMaLavFJbfIdsuhTRrJA8QKwLHw+ioq3VDbGZc+qL99JzyO5p+wZX3SuBHfcKylo0z2P/LUWHeAsNsrQEYJqkTGstf

KPHeSJ6yTJsuMSmzFYGWot8PYTjGQj/c2/eTjd3a4u+5+qXPPiKy0C/+wGOe+FRTaPJOuUpvLSKdSQY5ZguV/CExJq+

oCQkeG74D4bWpS6MtLYBukMFEi5+VQIa2lUrhv2px2m2fAUmIOKEgm+l8x8oQ3LY8wsB40EFVw7wANXBz+G7SXg==
55-02-44.41 2-35-19.06 15.07.01/54-26-13.52 0-31-59.25 07.09.96/50-00-14.70 5-13-46.60

01.03.84/54-00-50.07 1-41-40.63 13.04.87/56-31-24.17 4-21-53.02 21.04.09/52-07-32.31

1-26-24.61 25.12.80Hw+ioq3VDbGZc+qL99

I’m just curious if anything. Anyone seen anything like them before or know what program created them?

Depends on where you found it?
any army or miltary bases nearby to the area you found it?

Post the rest of the pages please.

Not one line.

From the pasted block of text it seems to me like that is encrypted with something akin to GnuPG or PGP, either that or it is in fact a public key, however it seems to be missing the tell-tale signs of being the public key portion of a encryption scheme (at least by GnuPG/PGP standards).

Hi there you should be able to open the passworded pdf fairly easily, there is software available to do this, for genuine reasons, such as an employee who created a pdf which requires a password and then leaves the company etc.

[snip]


This may shed some light on the other info - although looking at the code my instinct would say that it's nothing untoward, intriguing though ..

cheers

berth

[edit on 2-3-2009 by badBERTHA]



Mod Edit -

2e.) Illicit Activity: Discussion of illicit activities; specifically mind-altering drugs & substances, computer hacking, criminal hate, sexual relations with minors, and stock scams are strictly forbidden. You will also not link to sites that contains discussion of such material. Any post mentioning or advocating personal use of illicit mind-altering drugs will result in immediate account termination.

Terms and Conditions


[edit on 2-3-2009 by elevatedone]

[edit on 2-3-2009 by elevatedone]

Format the thing and add it to your USB drive collection. That's most likely the only good use for it now. Besides it protects you from posessing proprietary information if that's what it is

Better just get rid of it (format a few times, play a movie on it, format again).
This wont be exiting information from Area 51 or something, because this information will certainly not be carried on a USB-Drive.
BUT: It might be confidential Data fromlets say an electronic company (schematics and datasheets and stuff). In that case it might be they can sue you if you put that in the open.
If you really dare to give this information public (whatever it is) then turn to the guys at wikileaks.
Another thought i just had: Imagine its filthy childsex stuff or something, i mean its uunprobably, but possible. Then they might sue you too .... so the best you can do is get rid of it and dont think about.
Just my opinion.

If you could email me the password protected file I would have a bash at opening it! - I'm no expert but I've got past a few passwords in my time and as another poster said a pdf password is fairly easy.

I'll u2u an email address


Mod Edit - Terms and Conditions

2e.) Illicit Activity: Discussion of illicit activities; specifically mind-altering drugs & substances, computer hacking, criminal hate, sexual relations with minors, and stock scams are strictly forbidden. You will also not link to sites that contains discussion of such material. Any post mentioning or advocating personal use of illicit mind-altering drugs will result in immediate account termination.

[edit on 2-3-2009 by elevatedone]

[edit on 2-3-2009 by elevatedone]

What are the sizes and dates of the files?

This is 92 columns wide, so 26 pages printed out, I'm assuming, should be about 40-45 KB.

Most of it looks like base 64 encoding. I'm not sure about the numbers at the bottom, but it looks like some sort of date/time stamp.

It doesn't seem to be encrypted or compressed, though. There's a very small chance that this is a readable document (unless it's in a proprietary format like Microsoft Word). I'd say that it's likely either executable code, a disc image, or a multimedia file.

This information was probably intended to be read with a program that can't handle null bytes (networking software?), or to evade signature-based detection.

Try looking for a program that can base 64 decode files. You can also break the password to the PDF file with a fast computer

Originally posted by Daisy-Lola
found 3 files. The first has garbled code it seems over 26 pages of it. The second is a pdf file which has a password protecting it. The third also has garbled code, but with some numbers tagged onto the end of it.

One of the files is pdf. Can you tell what the other two are? .txt or .doc or.xls or something? This looks to me like what you might get when you open something with a program that isn't compatible with the file.

See what happens when you open it in a picture editor. Like photoshop or paint shop pro.

The numbers at the bottom look like between each set of slashes there is a pair of coordinates followed by a date

I checked a few coordinates though and they all seem to be random buildings in the UK if you use N and W, otherwise they're in the ocean

I would leave it alone and not try to break the encryption. If it is encrypted, that means its not for your eyes. Also there is software you can put on a USB drive that will "call home" if its lost or stolen. Mine has software that will do that.

Not to mention depending on local laws, you could be committing a crime by breaking the encryption since the data is not originally yours or intended for you.

We all know how this story ends don't we.

Originally posted by zombiemann
I would leave it alone and not try to break the encryption. If it is encrypted, that means its not for your eyes. Also there is software you can put on a USB drive that will "call home" if its lost or stolen. Mine has software that will do that.

Not to mention depending on local laws, you could be committing a crime by breaking the encryption since the data is not originally yours or intended for you.

That's true. The person must make a good faith effort to contact law enforcement and report the USB drive. However, if the law enforcement releases it back to this person, she (he?) can do whatever they want with it, except violate maybe IP laws.

[edit on 2-3-2009 by ColdWater]

[edit on 2-3-2009 by ColdWater]

[edit on 2-3-2009 by ColdWater]

[edit on 2-3-2009 by ColdWater]

reply to post by ColdWater


Is that a genuine offer?? I can supply you any number of flash drives for half that

Did some of that gobbledygook mean something to you?

reply to post by Daisy-Lola


Here is what I think about this thread. I am sort of apalled by your suggestion to open up these files.

Does the train station have a lost and found? And why didn't you take it there immediately if they do?

What you suggest to do seems to me like finding a wallet, and trying out the credit cards to see if they will work.

Isn't anybody trust worthy these days?

I found what appeared to be a camera case over a year ago and for some reason was manipulated to give it up to one of the supposed workers there. When I was leaving, there were several of these flash drive devices on the seat of my car. For some reason beyong my own control, I had tossed them into the grass in front of the cars parking spot, but saved one or two for some reason. I recall hiding them, but don't know why either, other than paranoia and delusions.

A few months ago there was one blue one on the table at my mom's house and I hadn't even recognized it. My sister said it was a 2 gig flash drive and it didn't phase me. My nephew put it in his pocket and the event bothered me for quite awhile. A few weeks ago they complained about their computer crashing and a dark screen. This may be related to a recent virus that was released. I dunno.

My thought is that there are likely undetectable viruses hidden in these and typically most are curious enough to open them?

I wonder what the federal government would do to these same people.