Google Images- Viruses?

[Quiver]

Okay, so... people might have noticed that I tend to link images/etc in to my posts sometimes. Okay, quite a lot of the time, especially if the image is pony-related.

 

But... I was talking to someone earlier, and they mentioned that just using google images might be enough to give a computer a virus. Is this accurate, and if so... well, how would I know if I got one, and does it only work if you click the image in question?

 

(Going to go through it step by step, since I don't understand technical jargon)

 

So... say I type "Cosmere" as a google search, then click images. It bring sup a page full of images of Brandon Sanderson, books, art, etc.

Let's say I click an image. That causes a box to pop up beneath the image, showing it at full size on the left, while offering website information, more images, and the options to "visit page" and "view image" on the right.

 

Is getting to this point enough to pick up a virus?

 

Or do I have to click the "view image"/"visit web page" links in order to be at risk?

Edited February 14, 2015 by Quiver

[king of nowhere]

as far as I know, it depends on how you have set your options. if you require your computer to ask you before running any kind of program or application or plugin then you should be pretty safe regardless. just say no to everything that you don't know what it is.

If instead your pc is programmed to do everything automatically then it is fairly easy.

However, I cannot guarantee 100%. my brother is the real expert, I'm only reapeating what I picked up from him.

[Quiver]

Drat. Okay, then... follow up question.

 

Say I sign onto a contaminated computer with my 17th account. I then sign on to a different computer elsewhere; is it possible for a virus to be passed through an account? Should I change my passwords just in case, or is it fine?

[Chaos]

I'm pretty sure you're being ultra paranoid and you have nothing to worry about. If I were in your shoes I would not be worried at all. You really should not worry unless it was a super seedy site, and even so, Google knows which sites are malware (which they warn you of in Chrome). You would almost certainly never get such a thing even if you went to the page, much less just that Google image thing.

Unless you have reason to think your computer is suddenly having malware, relax dude. You are ultra paranoid

[king of nowhere]

I'm pretty sure you're being ultra paranoid

well, experts of the field say that proper pc security is indistinguishable from paranoia.

but that goes for the servers of very important stuff, like the government, or banks. normal people are generally safe with a firewall and an antivirus, if they don't do anything stupid like actually downloading and installing malware.

[Eerongal]

well, experts of the field say that proper pc security is indistinguishable from paranoia.

but that goes for the servers of very important stuff, like the government, or banks. normal people are generally safe with a firewall and an antivirus, if they don't do anything stupid like actually downloading and installing malware.

 

 

This is known as "Security through minority". You're effectively relying on you not being a juicy enough target for someone to direct a focused attack at you. Which is true and generally fine for the every day consumer, but this and the slightly related concept of "security through obscurity" are both frowned upon in a professional world.

 

At the end of the day, there's NO WAY to be 100% safe aside from unplugging the internet and keeping it unplugged.

 

It's also worth noting that the concept mentioned in the original post IS TRUE. It's entirely, 100% possible to store malware in an image file. That said, generally executing said malware either requires you to be viewing it with a compromised viewer, or to perform special steps to remove the malware and execute in manually.

 

Now, simply visiting compromised sites can also potentially install malware, which is a more realistic attack vector than the above stated possibility. At the end of the day, so long as you're running firewall, antivirus, and simply not installing every random bit of software when the ad promises you free TV/Movies/Games/whatever, you'll probably be ok.