Are backups virus-scannable?

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by act8192, Jan 14, 2007.

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  1. act8192

    act8192 Registered Member

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    Don't know if "scannable" is an english word :(

    Considering that image backups and, I suppose, other backups done by Acronis TI, or even competition, are compressed/coded, is it even possible to virus scan them if the anti-virus manufacturer doesn't understand the encoding?

    This is really academic for me, as I try to backup after scans and cleanup, but you never know if something isn't lurking there undetected, especially considering the growth of sophistication of scumware writers.

    Any thoughts? Suggestions?
     
  2. writedom

    writedom Registered Member

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    After successful validation create an MD5 checksum to test the integrity of the file without having to use Acronis.

    The only thing you would have to worry about would be a virus altering the backup file. But the checksum will tell you if it has changed. If it has, delete it.

    Using an external checksum utility allows you to run a validation on one or more backups in one or more locations alone or simultaneously.

    Hope this helps
     
  3. foghorne

    foghorne Registered Member

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    A virus can target any file including ATI backups, and including ones in the Secure Zone. However since backup files are not executable, it would be hard to see why a virus would target a backup in the first place.

    If a backup has been modified by a virus then I would hope that it would fail ATI validation since the checksum of the file will have changed. In order for validation not to be able to detect this requires that a virus can modify the backup and then recalculate and modify the checksum stored in the file.

    Somehow I think there is probably more chance of my backup drive suffering a catastrophic failure or my system being hit by a nuclear EMF pulse.

    Bottom line - don't bother scanning, life is too short.

    F.
     
  4. Long View

    Long View Registered Member

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    you could probably mount the image and then scan but I wouldn't bother.
     
  5. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello act8192,

    Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

    We are sorry for the delayed response.

    Please note that since different Antivirus programs may use different scheme to check the archive file, the best way to check the image archive for viruses is to follow Long View suggestion, namely, mount the image archive as a virtual drive and perform the check procedure.

    Thank you.
    --
    Aleksandr Isakov
     
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