virusses

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 25 Jul 2015 Posts: 3

Hi,
I've recently got back into playing with these guys after they started invading a few forums I attend en masse.
I'm a little cautious however, I'm managing to get them to to send me images...but how can I be sure they're not infected?
Jpegs can have virusses attached. Any recommendations as to how I can get to see their crap without risking opening my computer to them?

Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2015 5:53 pm

If you're using GMail, you can view the images directly from your web browser (the images are stored on their server).

And if the lads are trying to scam you, they probably won't send an infected file. That would be counterproductive for them.

But--do you have antivirus software? What kind of operating system (i.e., PC, Mac, Linux)?

Are you baiting safely?

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 25 Jul 2015 Posts: 3

Mod edit to delete redundant quote of the above post. - JF

I'm not sure.
What is baiting safely? I guess there's a FAQ somewhere but I'm drunk right now. Will have a check around the site again on the morrow. Razz

I'm not telling them or showing them anything real about me and am using a email address I don't normally use.

So if I click on the image in gmail it doesn't actually download it? Only if its actually saved to my computer and opened a virus could take effect?

*** BANNED *** Joined: 26 Jul 2012 Posts: 1116

^ Linux live disk! It's hard to write something to that disk and most do not target that OS.

Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2015 6:35 pm

There is no way that a JPEG file can be infected with a virus, because it contains no executable or interpretable code. A PS or PDF file does contain interpretable code. A JPEG file could trigger a bug in the JPEG library if it's tampered with (I have a few tampered JPEGs to send to lads who ask for passports and such), but that's not a virus.

Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2015 7:58 pm

Joker wrote:

^ Linux live disk! It's hard to write something to that disk and most do not target that OS.

Or, if you're tech savvy enough, do a dual-boot setup like myself. Smile

*** BANNED *** Joined: 26 Jul 2012 Posts: 1116

^ Why give them the space to write anything to disk? Feel free to write it to RAM, I turn off my computer.... bye bye virus.

@VX and OP: Wrong, you can use infectious jpegs to spread a virus. I'm not going into detail publicly on how to do it due to rules of the forum (let's face it I don't feel like dealing with that kind of bullshit) and the simple fact that some dickhead will come along and try to use it on scammers or ITP's..... but yes you can make infectious jpeg type files.

Baiting Guru Joined: 10 Oct 2010 Posts: 3876

Joker wrote:

^ Linux live disk! It's hard to write something to that disk and most do not target that OS.

you could go one step further and buy either a old smartphone or a raspberry pie 2.

virusses usually target windows-systems and the few which can target linux are usually written for x86-systems, not for arm. and especially a pie can easily hide behind a tv-set and run 24/7, including a vpn-service for IP-obfuscation.

of course, that's a slightly more complicated setup, but it is virtually bulletproof.

regarding lads sending virusses: they usually don't do that. but they are often not aware how to protect their computers and that can become dangerous.

*** BANNED *** Joined: 26 Jul 2012 Posts: 1116

^ Maybe, maybe not:

http://www.trendmicro.com/cloud-content/us/pdfs/security-intelligence/white-papers/wp-ice-419.pdf

https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/content/dam/paloaltonetworks-com/en_US/assets/pdf/reports/Unit%2042/419evolution.pdf

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2015 9:05 am

josq,

Don't let the tech guys scare you. Yes, they are right, but you have much easier ways to deal with this problem. Sandboxie is a good option. And if you really need to save a picture received with an email in a safe way (the above options don't allow you to save anything...), your OS has a snipping tool Wink