Viruses in mods

[lolekz]

Im just curious and a little bit paranoid - if i download all of my mods just from Nexus and Loverslab, is there any way to get my PC infected? I know mods on Nexus are scanned for viruses before they were uploaded and published, but what about loverslab? Is there any control of files uploaded on servers? Some time ago some strange things happens to my steam account (like beeing online when i was a sleep and my pc was off, sending weird messages to my friends etc) and i thought that can be something related to the mods i was using, because:

 

1. Only few of my best friends got my account passwords just for family sharing, but they reported to me that i was online the day i mentioned

2. Steam Guard is enabled and shows no problems

3. Every login to my Gmail account used for Steam needs to be authenticated via sms

 

And I know what am i doing on my pc, every file that i want to install i send to virustotal to check. I know that this can be just a random steam issue, but its a little weird and got this only once. After that i deleted all of the mods and changed passwords, and there was no more problems, but now ive just come back to Skyrim and dont want this to happen again.

[Carabosse]

If a mod was uploaded with a virus I'm guessing it would be identified and dealt with pretty quickly. There appear to be many tech savy users on this site.

 

Also as an attack vector, mods uploaded to loverslab would seem to be a pretty poor choice for any potential troublemaker. There's always the chance of an accidental inclusion I guess but again the odds are slim.

 

Doesn't hurt to have a small amount of paranoia and not so small amount of common sense though. You appear to have those bases covered.

[LaEspada]

We do have a lot of tech-savy people on these forums and would they would probably notice almost immediately if a upload was a virus.

 

Some easy warning signs, the user hasn't even made 1 post on loverslab yet has uploaded.

The account was barely made and already upload.

estimiated the relative file-size of a file of what your downloading, a texture file will be quite a bit more than a mesh, etc.

 

there's some others, but meh.

 

 

[OldGuy879]

Not in this world no. Paranoia in a small dose is always need on the net. But so far with all the mods I have used and played around with from here and nexus not one Single Virus have ben found.

 

I will though recommend NOT using those that you find on 4chan though. unless you are aware of potentional problems it might cause

[Cynical Misanthrope]

It depends on what kind of mod it is. Clothing/Armor/Weapons/blablabla - Nop, no chance. Viruses can't be stored in nif, esp, esm and dds files.

But if someone has uploaded an .EXE file, well, only then you should be really carefull.

[fizzybutt]

Nexus had some one with a bone to pick with them hack into a bunch of extremely popular mods and replace them with viruses a little while back. Thankfully people who pay attention to what they download and don't just add things *willy nilly* noticed and it was fixed. I don't think that's ever happened here. The community is pretty protective of itself and Ashal puts in all kinds of safeguards to keep the rabble out. 

 

Just know the things you're downloading, what should be in them and what shouldn't. If you downloaded a texture/mesh mod and there's a dll or an exe in it. Then I wouldn't use it. if it's a new mod/modder watch it for a bit, see what the comments say. Hell you can download old, *old* mods that makes your skyrim install implode on itself if you look at it funny. I'd be more worried about that. 

[Jayleia]

Not in this world no. Paranoia in a small dose is always need on the net. But so far with all the mods I have used and played around with from here and nexus not one Single Virus have ben found.

 

I will though recommend NOT using those that you find on 4chan though. unless you are aware of potentional problems it might cause

Same...I've had no problems here or at nexus.

 

And given my experience with 4chan, I'd just recommend hitting the planet with a meteor (not necessarily mod related, but I trust that site about as much as a scorpion promising not to sting.)

[wulfgear09]

Of course all those above this post are hackers

[fizzybutt]

pfft! No cookies for you! 

[gvman3670]

Steam acts more like a virus than any mod I've ever downloaded! Seriously, it's more invasive than anything I've gotten from Nexus or LL.

[lolekz]

Thanks for replies guys. Someone says something about exe files - the only one i've used was skse installer from official skse site and FNIS tool, but as every exe file i uploaded them on virustotal. But even if something strange would happen i think Windows Defender or UAC (Windows 8.1) would block it. Dont know about others because i'm using Nexus Mod Installer, but most of them are just some bodies or sexlab mods. I've checked my system with few good scanners like Comodo, Hitman and Malwarebytes and its clean, so i think the problem will not happen again. Thanks for help.

[Hayleyrose2323]

I did get a virus from nexus once but thats like a once in a lifetime deal. And i'm sure it wont happen again.

Ive been download mods for as long as anyone from Nexus and LL with no problems other than that lil thing.

[fore]

Nexus is now checking every upload for viruses with different AVs. I do itanyway with my BitDefender every time before I make a release. Despite the fact that BitDefender would block my own exe anyway during testing.

 

Despite all that you still can get problems with your AV. At least every month I get a report from a user having problems with various AVs. It always is a (socalled) false positive, but it's always nasty when users think that I am uploading infected SW.

 

Usually the reports come from freeware AVs, often probably because you don't get the frequent updates for them (BitDefender: automatically several times a day). But even BD once has falsely flagged an older FNIS archive file of mine. But the fix was easy: report the file to BD, and after one day I had an automatic update installed which didn't flag this archive any more.

[Gosu.Gian]

You're crazy It's impossible to attach a virus in textures lol unless It's  an .exe

[PsychoMachina]

It is impossible to attach a virus to a mesh and texture, but it is possible to fool people into thinking an executable is a NIF or DDS file or even a 7z/zip/rar file.  If you do not make the OS show all file extensions, an unsuspecting person will click on what they think is a harmless file only to unlease a world of trouble.

 

 

[Rayblue]

Im just curious and a little bit paranoid - if i download all of my mods just from Nexus and Loverslab, is there any way to get my PC infected? I know mods on Nexus are scanned for viruses before they were uploaded and published, but what about loverslab? Is there any control of files uploaded on servers? Some time ago some strange things happens to my steam account (like beeing online when i was a sleep and my pc was off, sending weird messages to my friends etc) and i thought that can be something related to the mods i was using, because:

 

1. Only few of my best friends got my account passwords just for family sharing, but they reported to me that i was online the day i mentioned

2. Steam Guard is enabled and shows no problems

3. Every login to my Gmail account used for Steam needs to be authenticated via sms

 

And I know what am i doing on my pc, every file that i want to install i send to virustotal to check. I know that this can be just a random steam issue, but its a little weird and got this only once. After that i deleted all of the mods and changed passwords, and there was no more problems, but now ive just come back to Skyrim and dont want this to happen again.

 

Given about the description of the odd Steam activity, you will have to consider your browsing habits, especially when lurking around adult-oriented websites. Of late some unscrupulous advertisers would resort to desperate tactics by injecting malware into ads.

 

Or worse, you may have to check your Steam account and activity because someone's malware must've figured out your password and started messing around with your account.

 

Try visiting BleepingComputer, read instructions on how to remove hijacking malware, and pick up some utilities. Also change your online accounts' passwords -- email, Steam, social networking sites -- immediately.

[winny257]

what I to this theme can say is that it has given already several attacks by viruses here on LL! there are a lot of linkages Asian websites which are known to spread viruses.

I myself have discovered some viruses and inform the moderators.

this for example is a website which is to be treated with caution "tumblr. com" they send out Fishingmals!

[winny257]

You're crazy It's impossible to attach a virus in textures lol unless It's  an .exe

 

if you think so, then you're misinformed, you can even hide fours in a simple picture! when downloading this image, it can happen that your computer is infected.

[GrimReaper]

Don't share your account? It's inviting trouble. Even if you have perfect control over your PC, you don't have any control about what your friends do. If one of them has a keylogger or trojan on his machine your account could be compromised.

[spoonsinger]

I've never had a virus or malware from here, however I have had a drive-by via advertisement on the other site - which shall remain nameless - but begins with 'n'. As previous posters have pointed out, there is quite a lot of tech knowledge here so malevolent stuff would actually get picked up quite quickly.

[Uriel]

Mods usually come as archives. Mods contain no .exe's(excluding those really well known, like bodyslide...). And there's no point to mask your malware for the mesh or texture, as it will never be executed.

So i see only one way: code malware with the new SKSE functions! Beware of the new SKSE plugins ppl!

[wulfgear09]

I want my cookie back!