I just saved a welcome gif file and uploaded it to my home page. Norton has just warned me of a security risk. Can that gif file comprise the security of the site and pass the security risk on to others via the site?

Hi Richard,

I just checked your home page with my system running norton 360 and did not receive any notices. It must have just been a generic warning not pertaining to a specific file.

Jessica
Class Creator Support

No - not directly. Only files that can be "executed" in some way can compromise a site. GIF, JPG, PNG, etc graphic files are for display only - meaning they can never run as "code".

Code that can compromise would be .exe, java/javascript, flash, other embedded web objects that I can't remember and so forth.

However, if you RENAME a GIF to one of the other executable extensions, it's quite possible to make it into a virus. Still the user has to "run" it in some way. That's sort of unlikely - so perhaps Norton is being extremely paranoid

P.S. Jessica, FYI just because some program says there's not a problem is not proof positive. I've had a few instances where users were infected and had no clue. Indeed had to go out of my way to show them why my program was telling them it was modified by something (meaning I have code that can tell if a virus gets attached to my code).

Thanks. I didn't think so but I wasn't sure. I wanted to make sure I didn't pass it along.