Re: Avi or mpeg virus possible ?

"David H. Lipman" <DLipman~nospam~@Verizon.Net> writes:

From: <nightwing_97838@xxxxxxxxx>

| I have 2 friends who claimed their computer was infected by a virus from an
| avi media file .
| They downloaded it off a newsgroup a couple of days ago .
| I helped them do a lowlevel format & reinstall of everything & it was
| necessary .
|
| How is it possible to imbed or install a virus,trojan etc.. with a media
| file
| One of my teachers in college claims this can't be done while another says
| it can ?
| If this is possible , then how do you defend against it ?
| Hell I've heard some boast they can put viruses in text now ?
|
| Any info & advice you may have is greatly appreciated :)

Only if it is a double extension fuile such as; Britney Spears.avi .exe

That is certainly the easiest and most common way to get owned by such downloads.

In a rare departure from David's usual reliable advice, though, I'm
afraid I have to disagree that it's the only way. Media files can and
have been crafted to exploit vulnerabilities in specific media players
(buffer overruns, etc.). Quicktime and Flash vulnerabilities seem to
be more common with this than .avi here recently, but .avi has been
hit in the past via DirectX vulns.

Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/
.

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