Method of disguising a USB port connection

A method is disclosed for disguising a device's connection to a USB port of, for instance, a host system such as a personal computer or workstation. A device having a microcontroller is connected to a host system using a USB port connection. A switch is coupled between one of the data pins of the USB port and a supply voltage. When the device is connected to the host system via the USB port, the switch is turned off so as not to pull a USB data pin to the supply voltage, and thereby prevents the host system from recognizing that a peripheral device is attached to the USB port. The switch is maintained in a non-conductive state until the microcontroller on the device is booted up and has retrieved identification codes associated with the device and is then turned on. In this manner, the host system does not detect the connection of the device to the host system's USB port until the device is ready to provide suitable identification codes to the host system.