AntiVirus - some fundamental questions

[ErikJan]

Pity this is bleeding to death here as well. Anyone with a suggestion for a place where I can try this one last time maybe?

[JoeP]

Going back to your original question, when you use any tool to browse/see the content of a network drive you end up transferring information into RAM on your PC. If the source/remote drive/PC has an infection of a particular type then the receiving PC could get infected even though you don't explicitly execute anything. Malware authors have become very inventive through the years. There have been many exploits that take advantage of networking holes. It is not the network itself, it is the software hidden on the networked device that is the culprit.

If the networked device is clean then you will definitely not be infected if it is only local network activity.

[StuartR]

Here is an article from Reuters about "zero click" attacks which can compromise your computer even if you do absolutely nothing
https://www.reuters.com/technology/micr ... 023-04-11/

[ErikJan]

Here is an article from Reuters about "zero click" attacks which can compromise your computer even if you do absolutely nothing
https://www.reuters.com/technology/micr ... 023-04-11/

Yep, that may be possible (although the site does not indicate how this would happen). I'd argue that for my case this would be irrelevant as my question was "if I only browse my harddrive / NAS / external devices and do not execute anything infected itself, can I get 'infected' by a virus or malware?". So what I'm trying to establish is whether or not that specific activity would infect me (and therefore not if something comes from the Internet around the same time or something that is executed or triggered around the same time): just me browsing...

[JoeP]

You have not defined what the external devices are. If you connect to anything that runs an OS and that device has been updated since it was acquired, then YES you could be infected just by browsing. If you are sure that what you connect to is free of infections and is only on your local network, you would not be infected by browsing. Remember, your network is subject to the same general security issues as everyone and also any specific to the router/firewall you have.

[ErikJan]

Apologies Joe that I missed your response. But this is finally coming closer to the information I'm looking for. You say that if I browse only on a device that is infected, I could be impacted. How would that work then?
Also: we would agree that browsing an external HD would be safe (no OS), but a NAS (a NAS has an OS)...?

[JoeP]

There is malware that sits in the background monitoring network access and then springs into action when network access is detected. An external HD would be safe. A NAS has an OS usually some Linux flavor. Therefore, a NAS is susceptible to infection.