Why is the BIOS not open to viruses?


  1. lister
    Posts : 259
    Windows 7 Panasonic CF F9 (used to have CF F8)
       New #1

    Why is the BIOS not open to viruses?


    anyone know why? Always wondered why it never seems to be affected....
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  3. zigzag3143
    Posts : 28,845
    Win 8 Release candidate 8400
       New #2

    lister said:
    anyone know why? Always wondered why it never seems to be affected....
    It is normally read only I believe but anywhere can be infected. BIOS, MBR, malware can even jump partitions or HD's
    Last edited by zigzag3143; 27 Jan 2012 at 05:51.
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  4. ICIT2LOL
    Posts : 21,004
    Desk1 7 Home Prem / Desk2 10 Pro / Main lap Asus ROG 10 Pro 2 laptop Toshiba 7 Pro Asus P2520 7 & 10
       New #3

    I think the short answer is yes anything in the machine beit RAM BIOS hard drives in short anything that holds stored items / software / instructions can get infected.

    Remember that any firmware can be updated and well that means downloading software into it

    But I stand to be corrected.

    Just Google can viruses infect the BIOS and you will loads of stuff like this one

    http://www.tomshardware.com/news/bio...door,7400.html
    Last edited by ICIT2LOL; 27 Jan 2012 at 05:48. Reason: Addition
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  6. panais
    Posts : 5,405
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit SP1
       New #4

    lister said:
    anyone know why? Always wondered why it never seems to be affected....
    Yes. Bios can affected by Virus\BIOS rootkit.....

    I found one in a "client" pc last year.

    Flashing bios in most cases helps,but not always.
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  7. ICIT2LOL
    Posts : 21,004
    Desk1 7 Home Prem / Desk2 10 Pro / Main lap Asus ROG 10 Pro 2 laptop Toshiba 7 Pro Asus P2520 7 & 10
       New #5

    panais said:
    lister said:
    anyone know why? Always wondered why it never seems to be affected....
    Yes. Bios can affected by Virus\BIOS rootkit.....

    I found one in a "client" pc last year.

    Flashing bios in most cases helps,but not always.
    Yep Panais nasty little so ans so's eh? and sneaky with it. Never found one in the BIOS myself but what a place to hide them eh?

    Meant to say I usually run rootkit "finders" if I suspect them anyway.
    Last edited by ICIT2LOL; 27 Jan 2012 at 15:23. Reason: Addition
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  8. panais
    Posts : 5,405
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit SP1
       New #6

    ICit2lol said:
    panais said:
    lister said:
    anyone know why? Always wondered why it never seems to be affected....
    Yes. Bios can affected by Virus\BIOS rootkit.....

    I found one in a "client" pc last year.

    Flashing bios in most cases helps,but not always.
    Yep Panais nasty little so ans so's eh? and sneaky with it. Never found one in the BIOS myself but what a place to hide them eh?

    Meant to say I usually run rootkit "finders" if I suspect them anyway.
    Yes "sneaky" ICit2lol you use the right words
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  10. A Guy
    Posts : 53,364
    Windows 10 Home x64
       New #7

    Interesting reading:

    Mebromi: the first BIOS rootkit in the wild « Webroot Threat Blog

    A Guy
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