Windows 7 Homegroups & Virus Risks

paulofessex

Am l correct in thinking that being part of a Homegroup between all the pc's in the home that if one pc obtained a virus all other pc's are at risk if a file was opened/shared etc.

Looking to set up a Homegroup but trying to establish if there is a real need and whats the risks are. Would hate to have all pc's infected.

RussJK

Unless you run a file with an exploit (e.g. PDF) or an executable with a trojan/virus from a network share, then I'd think the main risk is if the infected machine has some sort of a self-propagating worm.

dixiebb

paulofessex wrote: »

Am l correct in thinking that being part of a Homegroup between all the pc's in the home that if one pc obtained a virus all other pc's are at risk if a file was opened/shared etc.

Looking to set up a Homegroup but trying to establish if there is a real need and whats the risks are. Would hate to have all pc's infected.

certainly that is in the nature of a replicating virus ; thus best to have the best possible anti-virus protection on all machines; plus a firewall; if a suspect file, perhaps disconnect and then open on a 'stand-alone' machine. :cool: might not be possible though

paulofessex

Many thanks for your responses, as l can't really see the entire benefit of using the Homegroup option at this time l feel l am heading towards not bothering to set it up, particualry as l not 100% techy on virus and firewalls etc and would prefer not to risk infecting all the pc's

Thanks again for your comments

closed

back them all up with disk imaging software, then if you get hit by an unknown worm, it's not a big deal

RussJK

closed wrote: »

back them all up with disk imaging software, then if you get hit by an unknown worm, it's not a big deal

As long as they realise they've been infected, and as long as they don't lose passwords, credit card details, etc.

debitcardmayhem

TBH homegroups are no worse than USB sticks, FTP, CD's ,Old fashioned sharing , email.... ad infinitum . Backup and Protect

RussJK

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

TBH homegroups are no worse than USB sticks, FTP, CD's ,Old fashioned sharing , email.... ad infinitum . Backup and Protect

Really it's more of an issue for being on LANs that you don't have any control over the other PCs, such as libraries, work places, and schools.

Just a few days ago I cleaned a computer that had been infected by a worm while connected to the LAN at a university library. The worm installed a rootkit in volsnap.sys, along with a keylogger, IE proxy hijack and a DNS hijack. There was also the usual assortment of trojans, trojan droppers, and fake.alerts in temp folders and application data which were easy enough to prune manually.

There is a greater chance hypothetically that a computer will be targetted by a true worm from an infected PC on a local network than from a random computer on the internet, given that on a LAN there is a smaller range of IPs to scan (e.g. 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255). In both cases as you know the hardware firewall ought to prevent the attack. If there were network shares, then the computer would also be vulnerable to worms that spread via dictionary/brute force attacks over LANs.

In the case mentioned above, it was an autorun worm which spread while the user accessed network shares for their teaching course. They didn't think anything of the fake popups and just thought of it as an annoyance, but took notice later when their credit card details were used fraudulently.

debitcardmayhem

RussJK wrote: »

Really it's more of an issue for being on LANs that you don't have any control over the other PCs, such as libraries, work places, and schools.

Hi Russ, question was about Homegroups I think, not roaming hobo-groups , like you and me

RussJK

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

Hi Russ, question was about Homegroups I think, not roaming hobo-groups , like you and me

That's what I mean, worms are less of an issue for Homegroups than they are for LANs outside of one's own control. If the OP just cleans any infected machines, then home networks are relatively safe.

debitcardmayhem

RussJK wrote: »

That's what I mean, worms are less of an issue for Homegroups than they are for LANs outside of one's own control. If the OP just cleans any infected machines, then home networks are relatively safe.

Yep don't invite him/her for a cuppa in your house, you are after the nape of their kids' necks, let alone the group at home, i expect you will go for a knapp now ... :beer: