Images posted on this forum

[jimmc974]

Are images posted on the forum safe from malware and embedded viruses? Does Mcafee ensure the content is safe, I am just being careful.

[Edward_Franso · Accepted solution]

Hi  @jimmc974 

Mcafee Provides all-in-one protection to safeguard your privacy and identity with award-winning antivirus and VPN so you can enjoy life online. It offers an extensive security suite that will keep your computer safe from malware and other online threats.

If you have any concerns, feel free to reply to the post or contact our support team using the link below.

McAfee Consumer Support

Regards,
Edward Franso

[jimmc974]

@Edward_Franso I have Mcafee, but I was asking is this site (your forum site) safe, does it check uploaded images for viruses?

[Peacekeeper]

If you have  McAfee and post an image it is scanned but good point. If a non McAfee user joins and posts an image of Spam popups he is getting is that image scanned. 

I assume it is see what @Edward_Franso  says.

[jimmc974]

@Peacekeeper

Thanks for the reply, I would like to hear from Mcafee if images on their site are indeed safe. 

Nowadays hackers are embedding malware in everything including images.

Also (Mcafee) is it possible to embed a mouseover or something whereby it can do harm?  I have read that just viewing is safe, it's the program that opens an image is where it can be spread.  Can a hacker with a posted image on a forum embed an event, or is this not possible?  Would someone actually have to download and open the image to get infected?

What is the latest on images and how they can do harm?  I have gotten leary of anything these days.  Sorry for being so cautious.

[CraigSchmugar]

A healthy dose of skepticism goes a long way in staying safe online. That said,  it's been many years since there was wide-spread exploitation of a major image handler vulnerability leading to code execution.

Much of the steganography used today is for the purpose of evasion, rather than exploitation. This means that threat hunters could overlook code lurking within an image file, but that code needs to be read in by an existing piece of malware.

A typical scenario is where an existing infected device receives background updates in the form of an image. Malware running on the device extracts what it needs from the image, bit it is never actually presented to the user.

Simply viewing such a file in the browser, or standard image viewer, would appear as normal.

[JulieNester]

Thanks for telling us and solved this problem