emulators, roms, viruses?

[DroidyMcDroid]

i'm not asking how to do things or anything taboo like that. i just have a general question about them and your phone's safety. i hope that's allowed... sorry if it isn't. :-\ new here and all.

-can your phone get a virus from downloading a malicious file of a game rom from a site directly on your phone? or is this only a worry for your computer?

-could your computer contract a virus from your phone if you downloaded a malicious file and then went to transfer pictures, music, etc. to/from your computer?

 

[DroidyMcDroid]

just a side note: as far as android viruses go, it's my understanding that questionable apps on the market are the source for android related viruses. so what about websites and files from sites visited directly on your phone?

 

[srkmagnus]

In short, the answer is yes, you can download malware onto the phone which could be harmful. The good news is that you can avoid this by not visiting sites you shouldn't be going to (tsk, tsk) and by downloading content (apps, games) from certified sources, like the Android Market. Will downloading content from the Android market make you immune to malware? No. But at least you know you're downloading from an authorized site and if a problem does arise, google will be likely to detect it and remove the bad apps from the market and user devices just as they recently did. The same is true for ROMs. When installing ROMs you are trusting their honesty. Be sure to flash ROMs from people and sites that are active in the Android Development scene.

You need to think of your phone as a personal computer because that's exactly what it is. A cell phone is not immune to malware, so use caution when downloading content from sites you are not sure of.