What happens if a file containing a virus is camouflaged inside a seemingly harmless file?
Although camouflaged files containing encrypted ‘virused’ files would pass through a virus-checker, as the virus itself would be encrypted (and therefore scrambled), it could not possibly be triggered or cause any harm. Opening a camouflaged file simply reads the archive information, which would again not trigger any hidden viruses. The only way a virus could be triggered would be to extract a file from the Camouflaged file and then run that file (which would have to be capable of containing a virus, for example, an .exe, .com, script file or Word document) without first checking it. If you’re concerned about viruses, simply extract the files from the camouflaged file and scan them using your virus checker.
