Isn't the add on system a bit risky?

[Altiris]

I just noticed this now and well, downloading Add-Ons from other computers can be risky. Not all AV engines can detect all viruses. Couldn't this infect our PCs? I know almost everyone uses mediafire to host their add-ons but does their bit defender even check for viruses inside files?

(Im not sure if this belongs in General Discussion, I guess it does so I posted it here)

[Ad Bot]

[Extrude]

No.

[GenaralSkar]

Yes files can contain viruses. That's what anti-virus software is for.

[Kalphiter]

No, add-ons cannot contain viruses because they are limited to Blockland's scope.

Add-ons don't have access to the software-level, only the game EXE does.

[Altiris]

Kalphiter, Im not really sure how viruses work but they probably do only go around in .exe files but I have heard there are some that spread to other files that have been created. And AV engines can't block viruses 100%.

[Kalphiter]

Kalphiter, Im not really sure how viruses work but they probably do only go around in .exe files but I have heard there are some that spread to other files that have been created. And AV engines can't block viruses 100%.

This makes no sense, we shouldn't download any files from the internet then?

You can't get a virus by downloading an add-on (excluding browser exploit), placing it the Blockland folder, and then running Blockland, however doing nothing else with the file, if that's what you're asking.

[Superb]

Downloading a virus is possible, using a tcp object, but nobody's going to waste time doing all of that for blockland.

[Mysteroo]

This makes no sense, we shouldn't download any files from the internet then?

You can't get a virus by downloading an add-on (excluding browser exploit), placing it the Blockland folder, and then running Blockland, however doing nothing else with the file, if that's what you're asking.

makes plenty of sense to me. All he's saying is that anybody can probably stick a virus in the file along with an add-on someone made. I mean a lot of webpages get you to download viruses without your knowing of it. And somehow those manage to get into effect and into the rest of one's computer. And from his point of view, and mine as well, a virus could probably hide in a file along with one such as an add-on.
     But even  if we're wrong, you really don't have to act like we're being silly, the inner workings of a virus isn't exactly common knowledge.

[Butler]

A virus can be hidden in the .zip file. However the add-on files themselves cannot be/contain a virus.


Right?

[Mysteroo]

A virus can be hidden in the .zip file. However the add-on files themselves cannot be/contain a virus.


Right?

that's what I thought, but I could be wrong, I don't know much about viruses.

[Snaily]

Well, it hasn't happened yet, to my knowledge.

[mp7964]

No, it's not. TorqueScript, or what add-ons are coded in, cannot do anything virus related. It CAN delete files, but only inside the Blockland directory. You cannot execute a .exe file directly from Torquescript, either. You'd need to go through the trouble of coding a self-starting .exe, as well as coding a TCP object to download it.

tl;dr: No. Nobody would put the effort into making a virus for Blockland.

[Brian Smithers]

Well, it hasn't happened yet, to my knowledge.

Your incredibly stupid
Zoneark stole like 20 keys by writing something that when you join it got your authkey.
I think Truce did something that I completely forget about.
And multiple people tried to exploit TCPObjects to gain control over peoples blocklands.
With eval you can easily crash a computer, easily. Though people just dont take the time to do it because most of us have lives.
Anything that can write files can crash your computer. tl;dr blockland, anything let alone, can crash your comp.

[Snaily]

Well, now to my knowledge, it has happened before 

[CityRPG]

You do not understand the concept of a virus or an add-on.

An add-on is a set of scripts that interacts with the Torque Game Engine that Blockland uses. An add-on must conform to a strict set of semantics in order to function. An add-on cannot convince the engine to launch a virus. It does not work that way.

The only way for an add-on to become a virus is if the .ZIP archive contains a .EXE, .APP, .JAR, or similar executable file that is capable of running independently of Blockland. Because add-ons do not need to be extracted after version 9, the idea of launching a virus through a Blockland add-on is an extremely implausible and ineffective method.


The worst an add-on can do is: Delete client configuration files (such as preferences for RTB and your character costume), or use the crash(); function to crash the game.