Will my dvd/cd get infected if I put it into an infected computer?
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Will my dvd/cd get infected if I put it into an infected computer?
i need to burn a .iso to a dvd or cd but the only computer i can do it on has been infected with malware in the past. if my computer has malware and i put a blank dvd or cd on it, will it get infected before i burn the .iso even if the checksum is accurate after the burn? It is a 1x only write which makes me think that if malware writes to it first, then the .iso shouldn't be allowed to write to it. I don't know.
Last edited by kangaroobop4; 09-23-2020 at 12:53 AM.
No, malware doesn't infect .iso images. Malware only infects executables and there have been very few reports of PDF, MS Word and image files (such as JPG) being infected.
Besides, as you have pointed out yourself, the checksum can confirm that the burned CD/DVD image is faithful to the image.
No, malware doesn't infect .iso images. Malware only infects executables and there have been very few reports of PDF, MS Word and image files (such as JPG) being infected.
Besides, as you have pointed out yourself, the checksum can confirm that the burned CD/DVD image is faithful to the image.
If the source is already affected with malware before creating the ISO. Then when you create the ISO, of course the malware will also be part of the ISO.
Even if the source is clean, who knows maybe some out there knows how to inject a malware to an ISO image.
Nowadays, if a bad actor discovers a vulnerability. They will fully enjoy it to the fullest; until someone notice it and close the vulnerability.
So you are going to ignore everything that was said to you and continue on?
Was the CD/DVD finalized after it was burned? Then it can't be written to. Is this a CD/DVD ROM? Then it can't be written to. Is this a writable disk that is ready to be written to? Who knows. Malware can write to disks.
Best solution to never get infected from malware is to never plugin the computer to any network, and never plugin any removable media, and never load any unknown software that you do not trust, and few other things.
Last edited by dc.901; 09-23-2020 at 01:40 PM.
Reason: cannot find emoji for sarcasm
i need to burn a .iso to a dvd or cd but the only computer i can do it on has been infected with malware in the past. if my computer has malware and i put a blank dvd or cd on it, will it get infected before i burn the .iso even if the checksum is accurate after the burn? It is a 1x only write which makes me think that if malware writes to it first, then the .iso shouldn't be allowed to write to it. I don't know.
In case you used mswindows default cdr/dvd-rw burning software to burn discs, please know that since windows vista this software doesn't finalize the disc. The disc remains "open" so that you can add more files later (it is called 'live' format). This means that you can't exclude infection if some malware is running on the computer. That's why I advised to boot the system from a Linux live usb that is more secure, plus the checksum test.
If the source is already affected with malware before creating the ISO. Then when you create the ISO, of course the malware will also be part of the ISO.
Even if the source is clean, who knows maybe some out there knows how to inject a malware to an ISO image.
Nowadays, if a bad actor discovers a vulnerability. They will fully enjoy it to the fullest; until someone notice it and close the vulnerability.
Yes, this is what I am referring to. I put the dvd into the malware infected computer. The dvd gets infected. Then I burn the iso to it, but then the checksum is good. Could the malware be somewhere else on the dvd-r?
No, malware doesn't infect .iso images. Malware only infects executables and there have been very few reports of PDF, MS Word and image files (such as JPG) being infected.
Besides, as you have pointed out yourself, the checksum can confirm that the burned CD/DVD image is faithful to the image.
thanks for your input. i think some malware can infect .iso images, but, on the other hand, most malware probably can't.
So you are going to ignore everything that was said to you and continue on?
Was the CD/DVD finalized after it was burned? Then it can't be written to. Is this a CD/DVD ROM? Then it can't be written to. Is this a writable disk that is ready to be written to? Who knows. Malware can write to disks.
i think it was finalized. it is a dvd-r in a rw dvd player. i'm concerned about what happens to the dvd if it gets malware on it BEFORE burning the iso. even if the checksum is good, could that malware (we'll assume is on there) be somewhere else on the disk? on one hand, i would think no b/c the iso was burned to the entire disk. on the other hand, where does the malware go then? thanks for your input.
Last edited by kangaroobop4; 09-26-2020 at 12:39 PM.
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