Dude in my class says a virus can be embedded in a JPEG

[OS]

I told him he was on crack. But I am open to the possibility that I am wrong. Does some one out there know something that I do not?


Edit: Need to clarify, he meant you can get a virus by viewing a jpeg.

 

[prodigy]

Pretty sure he's on crack

 

[The Stigenator]

actually he must be thinking of the virus similar to "sexything.jpg.pif"

however he might be right to an extent, watermark can be encoded into the jpeg. However its not an exectuteable so therefore it wont be able to infect anything. On top the jpeg format has a header that one could technically put some rouge code in to distrupt a computer (similar to a corrupt file).

however if he does succeed.. ask him to release it

 

[OS]

I know as well as most that viruses can only come in the form of a program/executable. When I explained this to him, he said that when you open a JPEG, you are running it. I asked him if he ever saw this in person, and he said, yes because he read it on the net. I mean, we all know how factual the internet can be.

The more I think about what he said, the more I think he's on crack.

 

[Soybomb]

But you aren't running the image when you're opening it, you're reading its contents but the instructions are from the viewer. Think of it as a configuration file for a program. They do not carry viruses.

 

[jhu]

the jpeg can contain a virus if you're somehow able to encrypt an executable in the jpeg. however, since jpeg is lossy, i don't know if there's a way to do that. for non-lossy image files you can encode a virus in the least significant bit of each pixel. i think it's called stenography.

so your friend's correct for the wrong reason.

 

[OS]

urgh, I should clarify. He meant that you can get a virus from opening a jpeg. Renaming an executable to a jpeg is another thing.

Damn, the more I think about this, the more I realize that he's on a good case of crack

 

[UNCjigga]

CNN ran a story a few weeks back about Osama bin Laden's terrorist group hiding hidden messages in pr0n pics and sports highlight pics on various websites. Something about hiding an alternate octet stream within the image that doesn't really show up when you look at the pic, but bin Laden's associates in the US can decode it. Weird sh*t.

 

[divinemartyr]

I'm almost positive, but could be wrong, isn't netbus embedded into jpegs?

dm

 

[jhu]

uncjigga, that's what i'm talking about.

outersquare, i'm talking about something else

 

[ViRGE]

Actually, I have a program that can encrypt and ZIP files into either a WAV file or bitmap. Stenogrpaphy(miding data in something lese, usually seemingly useless files) is very possible if the carrier doesn't use lossy compression.

 

[Russ]

divinemartyr,

I think Netbus is embedded in java applets. Also, I think it got stuck in that game "whackamole". There is a version of it that downloads random jpegs.

OuterSquare,

I'd bet that your friend is confusing the recent "whatever.jpg.vbs" viruses.

Russ, NCNE

 

[bonk102]

tell him to not smoke before class anymore, it's killing too many braincells