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Virus Scan of Zip Files

Discussion in 'Security and Privacy' started by virginia, 2005/08/11.

  1. 2005/08/11
    virginia Lifetime Subscription

    virginia Geek Member Thread Starter

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    Does it do any good to scan a zipped file for a virus? It just occurred to me that a virus scan might not identify a virus in that format.
     
    virginia,
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  2. 2005/08/11
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    Absolutely!
    Normally, a virus inside a zip file cannot execute until the zip is manually extracted and then manually executed or automatically attempted to install. However, many new spyware come as zip files or cabs and some attempt to confuse by have a name such as CoolPic.zip.exe, etc.

    I've been using winzip for last 7 yrs and it has an option to virus scan the files within the archive directly or if you have your virus scanner running on auto-protect you can config the av to scan compressed files and srchives.
     
    TonyT,
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  4. 2005/08/11
    Welshjim

    Welshjim Inactive

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    Welshjim,
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  5. 2005/08/12
    virginia Lifetime Subscription

    virginia Geek Member Thread Starter

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    Thanks for the responses. I use Winzip and AVG free. I have always scanned my downloaded zips without giving it much thought but the possibility that scanning a zipped file might not identify a potential virus just occurred to me. I guess my problem is that I'm not really sure what occurs when you zip and unzip files. Thanks for the inputs and I feel a bit easier now.
     
    virginia,
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  6. 2005/08/12
    Welshjim

    Welshjim Inactive

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    virginia--
    In very simplistic terms you are compressing and uncompressing files. Compressing allows a file to occupy less space, which can be good for sending by email, putting on a floppy. Sometime you lose a little detail, but usually not noticeable, except for some images.
    To be absolutely sure, you can extract (uncompress) the files in a WinZip file and, before using them, scan those with AVG. I do not know what AVG claims about scanning zip files. (I had a quick look at their FAQ, but could not find anything about WinZip or zipped.)
     
    Welshjim,
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