Can my computer get a virus from my camera?

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Summary: Cameras are not likely to themselves be infected by a virus, but without care they can act as carriers, transferring viruses from computer to computer.

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I'm actually going to reverse a statement I made in an article over 4 years ago.

Yes.

Yes, it is possible that your computer can catch a virus from your camera's memory card.

We need to understand that, though, because I didn't say from the camera, I said from the memory card.

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First, it's incredibly unlikely that your camera has been infected. Theoretically it's possible, I suppose, but I've not heard of it happening. There are so many different cameras with so many different versions of firmware on the camera, there's simply no way to write a virus that would infect any significant number of them. Heck, most of them never ever even "run programs" that you could supply via a memory card, all they do is write and read pictures.

There's simply no reasonable vector over which a camera could itself be infected.

So hang on to your camera, it's fine.

It's the memory card we need to look at.

Memory cards are one way that viruses travel from computer to computer. And that can be any memory card - a USB stick, an SD RAM or Compact Flash card - whether you use it in a camera or not.

Here's the scenario that most people think of when they think of cameras and memory cards:

• You use your camera and take pictures onto your new memory card.

• You take that memory card and insert it into a card reader to transfer the pictures to your PC.

Seems quite simple. Here's the scenario we need to worry about:

• You use your camera and take pictures onto your new memory card.

• You insert that memory card into a reader on someone else's computer. Perhaps you wanted to show or share them prior to coming home, perhaps you were traveling and needed to off-load your memory card or whatever.

• That computer had been infected with a virus, and that virus has now, unbeknownst to you, infected your memory card.

• You put the memory card back into your camera, and keep taking pictures. The virus does not harm or infect your camera in any way.

• You get home, and you insert the memory card into your own computer, where the virus you didn't realize was on the card infects your machine.

Note: this applies to direct connections as well. I use removable memory cards as the example above, but if you connect your camera to your computer via a cable, the virus can still spread to your computer, particularly if your camera appears as another drive on your computer.

The camera itself is not infected, it's simply a carrier - a host if you will - for the memory card that is.

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How do you prevent it?

One: turn off auto-run, also known as auto-play. This is a feature of Windows that detects that removable media such as a CD, DVD or memory card has been attached to a computer, and follows instructions on that media to automatically run a program. This is how some installation programs automatically run when you insert a CD, for example. Note that the program which is run automatically is on the removable media. That makes it trivial for a virus to add those instructions to any memory card so that it will infect any computer that it comes in contact with.

I'd call it auto-infect, if you asked me.

Two: trust no one. OK, maybe trust a few, but be skeptical. That means think twice before you connect your camera or insert your memory card into someone else's computer. How likely are they to understand and stay on top of internet safety procedures? How do you know you're not picking up a virus that you'll then take home with you?

Three: Back Up! Do I really understand from your question that the only place you keep your pictures - two years of pictures - is on your camera? To be blunt, that's asking for problems. Besides this whole infection scenario, cameras are easy to lose; memory cards "wear out", there are dozens of reasons that you might lose the pictures that are kept only in your camera. If you honestly value your photos you should copy them to your computer as soon as you can, and then make sure that the computer itself is backed up. My approach is to actually backup my photos automatically to two different machines, until I have the chance to backup to CD-ROM manually.

The golden rule is simple: always have two copies of your valuable pictures. Camera and PC, PC and a backup, PC and CD-ROM, it doesn't matter. As long as it's always ok for one to disappear (at which point you then quickly make a new second copy), then you're taking appropriate precautions.

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How do you recover?

The answers here aren't as clear. The problem is that there are many different viruses, and they do many different things.

Some won't affect your pictures at all. You can copy them off and reformat the memory card and you're done.

Some mark your files and folders as hidden, which might cause you to think that they were gone. Exploring your memory card looking for hidden files might well turn up your photos, which you could then copy off.

In your case, though, it sounds like the virus has, in fact, modified or even erased your photos and replaced them with something else - probably itself in an attempt to maximize its ability to infect other machines. I honestly can't say whether or not the photos are recoverable, but I'm guessing not.

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• How do I *really* disable auto-play in Windows XP? Auto-play can be a convenient feature but if it's not what you want it can be difficult to turn off and keep off. The TweakUI utility can fix that.

• Can a camera's memory card transmit a virus to my PC or to another camera? Theoretically it's possible for your camera's memory card to transmit a virus to another PC or camera, but the chances of that happening are very rare.

Article C3595 - December 19, 2008

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