At least until a few years ago, when we talked about viruses and malware the most feared files were EXEor in any case executable programs.
As time has passed, however, cybercriminals’ increasingly sophisticated attacks have led to other potential dangers, come on Word documents until PDF. One type of extension, however, has gained a bad reputation in recent years, namely i JPG.
JPG files (i.e Joint Photographic Experts Group) are an image compression technique, widely used for years and years. Thanks to their relationship quality-space occupiedhave now become a standard on the Web.
In this regard it is good to clarify one fact: JPG files they cannot contain viruses. Despite this, cybercriminals have found a way to make this format very dangerous anyway.
JPG files, in themselves, cannot be viruses, but they can still be very dangerous
This type of file, in fact, can easily help theobfuscation of malware.
By inserting malicious code in fact, in a JPG, when it is opened by certain software it is possible to start an infection. In this regard, it is important to specify that vulnerabilities in programs for viewing images are relatively rare
Not only that: when these arise, apart from rare cases, the developers intervene promptly security patches. Precisely for this reason it is important, as with browsers and operating systems, to keep this type of software updated.
Simply put, by adopting a antivirus Adequately, downloading and opening a JPG file from the Internet should not cause any problems whatsoever. In case of suspicious file, you can use it scan tool to avoid any type of risk.
From this point of view, it is also good to understand what the origin of the file is. If this is contained in a suspicious attachment received via email, the risks are certainly higher than a JPG downloaded from a reliable source.