Virus infested what...?

The_Other_One

The_Other_One

VIP Member
OK, I was having a small argument with someone and I want to see what you guys think... What all do you think could be infected by a virus? Probably the best example of something different would be a LCD.

Of course, I don't mean your basic computer viruses infecting it... I'm sure the code would have to be specific to the LCD, and the LCD needs some sort of computer interface. I do know some now have USB and allow you to alter the settings from the PC. I have also seen firmware upgrade for them.

My argument is the reason you don't see many viruses is because A) It must be very specialized and B) it does need some sort of interface(as mentioned above)

Give it some thought... An LCD does have a tiny CPU(the on-screen display...) some sort of firmware(OSD again and various functions...) and storage(variables). If the monitor's upgradeable, couldn't it also be corrupted on purpose? :P
 
Any hardware with a flashable reprogrammable method by way of software is vulnerable to attack by a predispositioned malware made specifically for corrupting it. That would require an advanced coding for something like that and lcd with a prorammable interface being a newer type of hardware there. You can update a bios with a malignancy why not an lcd with that type of nterface?
 
Yes, that's basically what I was trying to say, but could I get my point across? Nooo :P

It's like Windows Mobile PDAs. Can they get viruses? Yes... How many are out there? Last year Norton had about 9 viruses in their definition :P Of course people target the most popular and "friendly" software out there, but it's not limited to that.

Any other comments are appreciated.
 
Cell phone viruses have been around for a while, but they have to be so specialized you don't see them much.

And yeah, anything with upgradeable firmware would definitely be susceptible, however like you said it would have to be super specialized. Anything from routers to mice/keyboards to DVD drives could potentially get infected.

One thought that just came to me... what about an iPod virus? iPods are constantly getting plugged into computers and not only have upgradeable firmware but considerable storage space as well. They are so common these days that I could definitely see it happening.
 
Anything that has a program could be infected by a virus, but yeah, each code is different so it would be hard to write a virus for everything.
 
With any remote software controlled device/hardware that including a certain type of lcd you also have to remember the remote protocol for allowing web sites to perform access. By way of IE anything controlled or effected by software is vulnerable to a certain extent. Mpst viruses are simply designed to get into Windows and IE to raise havoc while firmware infection?

You have to have a way sometimes to flash program some things. IPhones are the latest thing out to spread viruses to a certain degree. But that gets into an involved area there. The most common types are intended for the obviously more commonly used items and OSs used(Windows = mostly / Linux = some but more coming).
 
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