Can a txt file be a virus? (Do this to Stay Safe)

This article will assist you all about if a txt file can be a virus? Employees who receive external e-mails frequently learn which attachments may be hazardous. For instance, EXE files and DOCX and XLSX files, which may contain harmful macros, are both automatically regarded as risky. On the other hand, text files are typically considered safe by design as they can only contain plain text. However, it’s not always the case.

Researchers discovered a technique to take advantage of the format’s weakness, which has since been fixed. The issue is how programs handle TXT files, not the file type itself.

Can a text file be a virus?

The file extension Txt is specifically used for plain text files. A virus cannot be executed by a “true plain text” file. To fool people into opening a file type that can execute that dangerous code, an a.txt file can be repurposed as an executable (carrying malicious code).

Extensions might be false. A text file could contain a virus. Cookies Exception.txt.exe might be stored as destroy.exe. If the file’s icon is notepad, you are safe as long as no other program renames it. Use notepad to open the text file and submit the contents. In that folder, look for hidden files as well as hidden system files. There can be additional files in addition to the “Cookies exception.”

Attacks possible through text files:

Yibelo discovered that the vulnerability permits:

• DoS attacks after thoroughly reviewing all options open to a potential attacker employing this technique. Gatekeeper does not forbid local files with the TXT extension from being opened. Opening a malicious text file can cause a computer to become overloaded, for instance, if the HTML code is used to access the /dev/zero file, which is a never-ending source of null characters.
• Determining an individual’s actual IP address Text file code can use AutoFS, widely used software for mounting file systems, to grant access to an external disc. Even though that action is harmless on its own, the author of the malicious text file can discover the precise moment it was opened and log the real IP address because the automatic mounting process forces the system kernel to send a TCP request, regardless of whether the user is behind a proxy server.
• File thievery:  A text document using the iframedoc> tag can contain whole files. As a result, the malicious text file can access any file on the victim’s computer and then use a dangling markup attack to transfer its contents. All the user needs to do is open the file. The flaw was reported to Apple in December 2019 and given the identification CVE-2019-8761. The post by Paulos Yibelo offers more details on how to exploit the flaw.

How to stay safe from virus?

The CVE-2019-8761 vulnerability was fixed in a 2020 update, but this does not mean there aren’t other TXT-related problems in the program. Others may exist that have yet to be discovered and used. Therefore, the appropriate response to the question “Is this text file safe?” is something like: “Yes, for the time being. But be on guard.

As a result, even files that appear to be innocent text files should be treated as possible threats, and all staff should be trained in this. Regardless, it makes sense to give internal or external SOC access to all of the company’s outgoing information flows.

What is malware TXT?

The Xorist ransomware family includes the malicious program Txt. This kind of malware is made to encrypt data and demand money for decryption software. All impacted files are renamed after Txt (Xorist) encrypts them by inserting the txt extension (not to be confused with the. “

Can a file have a virus?

The best approach to find out if a file has a virus is to run an antivirus scan on your computer. The prevalence of viruses and other malware is increasing along with the amount of Internet usage. Fortunately, several antivirus programs can identify, contain, and eliminate viruses.

Can malware be hidden in a TXT file?

A virus cannot be executed by a “true plain text” file. To fool people into opening a file type that can execute that dangerous code, an a.txt file can be repurposed as an executable (carrying malicious code).

Can a TXT file contain a virus for iPhone?

Because viruses typically cannot attach themselves to plain text files, they are, in fact, generally safer.

to conclude:

Here we conclude all about Can a txt file be a virus? Although you can utilize two different file extensions, only the second one is shown. What’s worse, default Windows settings conceal extensions for widely used file types (enabling them is one of the first things I do on a new PC). Imagine if I wanted to conceal and disguise a harmful executable I sent you as a text file. To have the executable run when you click that file, I need to alter its extension.

That’s a pretty bad ploy, though, and it won’t work if you are careful and don’t click on any emails you receive. The suspicious file’s header will be visible if you right-click it, open it in Notepad (or another text editor), or (even better) in FTK Imager. The header cannot be changed despite changing the file extension because it clearly states the sorts of files.