is web browsing in Virtual Machine safer????

[Bushman5]

can a "virtual" computer get infected with spyware, viruses etc etc while web browsing in the virtual environment?

 

[Night Hawk]

That's quite possible! The advantage of any VM however is that the entire virtual hard drive the OS goes on is a file stored on the host drive that can deleted with a simple right click avoiding any spread onto the host OS which would 7 or another Windows version.

While many opt to run Linux on a VM or one of the previous versions which could include the new XP Mode you still would want to take precautions. There are trojans out for FireFox as well as seen for Internat Explorer. Adding protections on a VM whenever possible is a good idea.

 

[Bushman5]

thanks for the feedback!

i'm currently running XP in the virtual computer, with COMODO Browser (based on CHROME but with Comodos security) , and COMODO firewall, and antivirus program.

 

[Night Hawk]

You certainly won't want to be transferring any files over to the host without some type of malware detection inplace. It looks like you got a few things covered there however.

 

[mckillwashere]

May i suggest implementing a steady state architecture? Once you power off the vm and boot it back up its back to the way it was before. Any trace it was used is wiped. Much similar to a program like deep freeze. This will wipe virtually and spyware, malware, virus, or curious friend who uses your computer.

 

[Night Hawk]

That depends on the virtual program being used where you can save machine states. The Oracle Virtual Box has that option while a custom onto a vhd in VPC won't at times.

If you have different people running your machine the option for different VMs for each would be another idea. Once they done you simply nuke the VM they used to insure nothing can be spread anywhere else.

 

[strollin]

While these schemes may be safer overall, they are a bit extreme and really not necessary. It's kind of like wearing a bullet proof vest to the office everyday, yes you're protected, but not really needed.

 

[mckillwashere]

@strollin,
Would you rather to not be wearing that vest when you boss fires that unstable employee and he come back two hours later with an m-14?

 

[pacinitaly]

sandboxie

I've been using this for a month. I love it!!!!


Sandboxie - Sandbox software for application isolation and secure Web browsing

 

[Night Hawk]

With the ever increasing number of malwares in all forms floating around on the web not having any protections inplace is like having a big sign placed right in front of you saying "anything welcome"!

A sandbox application like that to browse in an isolated form is one idea. When planning out the present build one thing looked at was web filtering when going with a different av software that included a good firewall which has proven itself so far by completely blocking out garbage sites.

Before when simply running a search without one protection enabled the first link in the results saw a trojan waiting! Regardless of that being seen on the host or a VM the lack of having the protection used at the time enabled left everything wide open.

New sites spring up the time that appear to be "nice and friendly" until you arrive at one and "WHAMO"! Surprize!

 

[strollin]

@strollin,
Would you rather to not be wearing that vest when you boss fires that unstable employee and he come back two hours later with an m-14?

This is faulty logic. What are the odds that a disgruntled employee will do that? Very small. The odds are much greater that you will get killed in a car accident on the way to work but you don't drive a tank, right?

I am not saying you shouldn't take precautions against the various maladies out there, I'm saying you can go too far and go into overkill to protect yourself.

 

[joakim]

To add more fuel to the fire for the paranoid web browsers: Virtualization software can be exploited like other software get. Although probably not the first choice for malware writers, it should be perfectly possible to infect the host through the guest vm, by exploiting the virtualization software.

But even considering precautions against this as a real threat, would be like wearing 2 bullet proof wests as well as a bodyguard with you inside the tank, just in case a second invisible sniper sneaked into the tank without you noticing.

But then again, who knows?

Bottom line is protect both host and guest reasonably, as well as updating your virtualization software regularly.

Joakim

 

[DirtyElf]

what kind of sites are you going to that you need to run inside a virtual machine? i mean are you looking at some mega pr0n?

ive never used internet security and very light anti malware / virus protection and ive never had a problem.

 

[Night Hawk]

In most cases when browsing the things that will tend to find a way on your system are low key like data miners(tracking cookies), key loggers, trojan downloaders that themselves are tucked away nicely without you noticing them. Well not until later usually being the case when other bugs are imported or you step on a land mine such as looking over a spam email for a new av program that turns out to be a bogus I-Worm!

Surfing around with nothing at all being carefree for example would be an open invitation while despite what protections you have on something will eventually get through. The commonly heard adivce is quite simple. Multiple layers! Browsing while running a VM is less likely to see the host OS infected with that one extra layer offered by virtualization.

If and when the OS there on a VM gets hit you have the option of deleting the vhd entirely without risk to the host. Having some protection inplace there to let you know something has struck allows you the time to nuke the VM before anything can spread. That's having the next layer added.

 

[mckillwashere]

@strollin,
Would you rather to not be wearing that vest when you boss fires that unstable employee and he come back two hours later with an m-14?

This is faulty logic. What are the odds that a disgruntled employee will do that? Very small. The odds are much greater that you will get killed in a car accident on the way to work but you don't drive a tank, right?

I am not saying you shouldn't take precautions against the various maladies out there, I'm saying you can go too far and go into overkill to protect yourself.

So not everyone drives a tank to work? :S
I thought that was common practice now days....
There are several reasons to use a vm the most legal reason is an extra layer of security.
Another is the use of a full os proxy while having your host machine be normal. Say you like the Britans got talent series, most of there episodes are only avaliable in Europe.
The full os proxy can also be used for less legit reasons but I will not get into those....

 

[Night Hawk]

The most commonly thought of reason for running a VM is actually not for simply browsing the web but running applications not compatible with the present host OS. I think most are aware of why the XP Mode was introduced for that reason.

The idea of leaving the main host OS untouched and secure is why VMs can serve multiple purposes which includes browsing without direct exposure to the various slippery malwares plus customizing things on a VM without risking the main OS. If something goes wrong the VM is simply removed.

 

[Windows i7 920]

@strollin,
Would you rather to not be wearing that vest when you boss fires that unstable employee and he come back two hours later with an m-14?

An M-14 would probably be able to pierce it anyway. There is no such thing as bullet-proof. Bullet-resistant, yes, but not impossible to pierce.

 

[mckillwashere]

@strollin,
Would you rather to not be wearing that vest when you boss fires that unstable employee and he come back two hours later with an m-14?

An M-14 would probably be able to pierce it anyway. There is no such thing as bullet-proof. Bullet-resistant, yes, but not impossible to pierce.

It depends,
Military grade dragon skin ceramics have a better chance of stopping over one of the cheap "consumer" bullet proof vests.

I have gotten to play with some armor piercing rounds that would shoot through a three foot log.

 

[Night Hawk]

Well I think one answer about browsing from a VM is you can run without any protections at risk or run with protections installed there and still get slammed or may see nothing at all. The VM has the main advantage however of adding a layer of isolation between that and the host OS.

 

[mckillwashere]

Well I think one answer about browsing from a VM is you can run without any protections at risk or run with protections installed there and still get slammed or may see nothing at all. The VM has the main advantage however of adding a layer of isolation between that and the host OS.

I agree,
The company I work for manages hotel business centers. One of the companies we just bought out used a program called deep freeze. When the machine reboots anything hat was done on the machine is wiped and its like it was the last time it was configured. In a sense VM snapshots will work the same way. You get a virus, simply restore the snapshot from the last time you configured and its back to the way it was.

I have considered running a very similar setup strictly for sensitive surfing, bill paying, checking bank accounts, etc. Anything that would have information thats not good for malware to find.