[Solved] I have heard that viruses can even cross virtual machines. Is using a live usb of linux the best way to prevent an harm to your pc?

Discussion & Solutions
1

I am using a lot of scripts that I downloaded from the internet and I don’t wanna take any risks. If I run those scripts on Live usb with kali, will I be protected even if the script had a virus?

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2

It is possible for certain viruses can cross a VM boundary, only if they are set to check for common types, and then exploit known methods of bypassing them. The alternative being some VM softwares permitting more access than others to hardware like the BIOS or other chips on your system. Depending on the level of the person that made it, it will always be possible for them to install a root kit. But the odds of it being a success, is nearly none, because of all the hoops such a script must go through and all the checks to ensure it’s just the right version, and hardware configuration.

You running it from a bootable USB won’t protect your drives or hardware in any way, in fact is worse than running it in a VM. This is due in part that most VM’s don’t give direct access to your hardware, unless set up for it. Like VirtualBox can do routing of some USB, Video and other hardware, but must be set as such.

Keep using the Virtual Machine, it’s far safer than using a bootable USB that would then have direct hardware access.

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3

Besides using VMs, I also use a ‘sacrificial’ machine that is completely air-gapped. The machine is then re-built from an image after use.

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4

I found out one way that virus can cross VM only if you enabled storage to share and using the same network like copying a file between VM and system.

Try to avoid these common settings it’s just preventive!

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It can also happen from enabling network access, or simply UEFI type access, among other potential passthrough options for hardware.

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