Is it possible to get a virus from MP3's?

RussA

RussA

RussA

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I've got to back up a few MP3's for my sister, and I want to keep a copy of the tracks, and a question occurred to me; is it possible to pick up a virus/trojan from an MP3/4 created another PC???

Thanks as always...
 
If a file is called xyz.mp3 or xyz.wma for that matter, can the file potentially contain virus/trojans? I thought it would show from the extension to the file i.e. xyz.exe ?

How would you know if a file called xyz.mp3 had a trojan in it? Would you have to scan each and every mp3???

Thanks for the replies.
 
RussA said:
If a file is called xyz.mp3 or xyz.wma for that matter, can the file potentially contain virus/trojans? I thought it would show from the extension to the file i.e. xyz.exe ?

How would you know if a file called xyz.mp3 had a trojan in it? Would you have to scan each and every mp3???

Thanks for the replies.
Click to expand...

no they can be hidden or embedded within any file. The only way to know is to do a virus scan.

Just scan the entire drive or the folder containing the files. If you need a virus scanner this is a good and free one.
http://www.free-av.com/
 
How would the virus/trojan execute if it's embedded in a mp3 or other non-executable file?
 
swinnie said:
Viruses/Trojans can be spread by any file.

You could download a PDF and it could have a virus/trojan attached.
Click to expand...

I understand that a virus/trojan can be spread by any file.

For the virus/trojan to do it's dirty deed it needs to be executed. If I click on a mp3, windows decodes it and I hear sounds. AFAIK windows does NOT send the mp3 to the CPU to be executed as a program.
 
I was wondering the same thing..

Also, pictures?

I mean, if it has a .mp3 or .jpeg extention, how can it start when you click it as it's not a .exe file?
 
Well when receiving a file over MSN say why does it recommend scanning the file for Viruses?

Surely that implies that viruses can attach themselves to any file. Same with email.
 
Tomsk said:
For the virus/trojan to do it's dirty deed it needs to be executed. If I click on a mp3, windows decodes it and I hear sounds. AFAIK windows does NOT send the mp3 to the CPU to be executed as a program.
Click to expand...

That's kind of true, but some virus attacks exploit vulnerabilities in a particular piece of software. For example, if a player software doesn't properly guard its caches/buffers, a carefully composed mp3 could in theory trigger the player to start executing a virus payload within the file. That's why DEP (data execution prevention) is getting more popular.
 
I remember years ago you could download what you thought was a "mature content" mpeg from Kazaa and it would play in WMP and it would just be a small picture of a greek ruin, this was a trojan.
 
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