"Bernardo B. Terrado" wrote:
A virus uses encryption to hide itself (correct?), but will the files in a pc be safe from virus when encrypted? why?
a virus can be encrypted or it could leave itself open. usaually the first. it all depends on the combination of what virus and encryption software you use. Many times a virus will infect by waiting for you to open a file (run, copy, move) when it sees a file open it will add itself to the end and then move the start of the program to the virus. When the program is executed it jumps to the virus who loads itself into memory and then jumps seamlessly to the beginning of the program, unperceptibly( if done right) If your files are encrypted by a program that stays in memory and lets programs run like normal a virus will run like normal. If you have an uninfected file PGPed when you extract a copy it will become infected like a normal file however the pgp file will not be infected. If the encryption is built into the program and has a checksum you will be notified if it is infected but if it just runs a decryption routine and then starts the program then it could be infected before the decryption routine. in general if you can read/write a file so can a virus. If you are worried about infection, get an uninfected copy and make a detached pgp .sig then run it on your computer in a batch file so pgp checks the signature before it runs. if pgp fails the sig. your program is infected each virus is unique and acts differently, remember they are just written like normal programs. If you are indepth interested, search for a virus authors page. Anti-virus people are vague so you don't figure out how to make one but a virus author will probably have guides on how to make a virus. This gives you intimate knowledge of a virus's abilities. _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com