CBL, a company that specializes in data recovery, said that new microSD cards and flash drives have the most unreliable memory chips in years.

The firm said that they’ve been finding a lot of flash drives and memory cards that have cut-down memory chips. Some even have chips with the manufacturer’s name removed or flash drives that use a repurposed microSD card that’s been soldered onto the board.

Related

CBL said that a lot of defective USB sticks they opened in 2023 using “discarded and unrecognizable microSD cards” that have been soldered on the flash drive’s board and “managed with the external on the USB stick board instead of the microSD’s internal controller.”

The firm thinks that the inferior NAND flash chips are made by prominent brands like SanDisk and Samsung but have failed quality control. Instead of discarding them and losing money, they may have been repurposed with reduced storage.

CBL cited one evidence of a USB stick memory chip with the manufacturer’s name physically removed, but when plugged in, can be identified as SanDisk. They also saw a microSD card soldered directly to the PCB, which is said to be a tactic used by smaller companies to produce budget-friendly flash drives.

It is said that such low-quality flash drives are given as “promotional gifts,” albeit some were “branded products.” It can also be used by hackers who are putting malware on flash drives and then disguising them as gifts.

Via: Tom’s Hardware

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *