Is it Possible for Entire Email Acct. to Contain Malware?

[CaptainAmerica]

Certainly malware can come from emails in various ways, but is it possible for one's entire email account to have an infection? TVM.

 

[Mossiac]

I wouldn't honestly know what to say to this.

In the most basic form an email account is just a user name with a certain amount of storage. If the drive on the company side (hotmail, gmail etc.) was infected then I would guess so. But maybe someone else can explain it a little better.

Mossiac

 

[iPwn]

is it possible for one's entire email account to have an infection?.

No.

The account can contain a virus (e.g. in an email), but the account itself isn't a virus. An account is simply a record. A line item in a database that points to other things... such as an inbox, a storage location, etc.

Now, it could be possible (hypothetically?) to make an account into a virus... perhaps by scripting an injection attack into one of the parameters... which is even ludicrous to fathom ... but other than that, no.

If you suspect that an account is compromised, scan/delete all messages and change the password. Remember that length is better than complexity.

If the drive on the company side (hotmail, gmail etc.) was infected then I would guess so. But maybe someone else can explain it a little better.

That's pretty much how I see that too. The account itself is a line item in a table somewhere. The storage and files associated are the problem.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

OK, I see. I had been wondering whether merely logging into an email account could infect you with malware (if one of your emails contained some kind of malware). So, you guys are saying NO that it's still the individual emails themselves that would be infected and that wouldn't translate into affecting the email account itself (or even other emails in the account?).

What, then, is the best way to scan a specific email for a virus? TVM again.