Do I need an antivirus, etc. On a virtual machine?

Question

If the host machine has antivirus, antivirus software, etc., then I think that the virtual machine accesses the Internet through the host and does not need its own protection. It is right?

Answer 1

There are no reports of violations when the vm, which starts to run malicious code, can infect the host. However, theoretical issues were raised on this issue. Worse, if vm gets infected, most likely it will launch a bot that will scan your network (including, possibly, the host), and can easily detect a hole in your protection.

Thus, even if you do not care about vm, it is highly advisable to adopt a strict strategy to protect these machines with AV software and scheduled updates. This can be challenging if you do not change systems frequently. Therefore, as a rule, it’s not bad to plan the time every few weeks when you turn on all vm / images and update them all.

If you mention a specific provider or virtual host package, more specific advice may be provided regarding the development of your vm security protocol.

Answer 2

If you use a virtual machine to do the actual work besides testing - yes, it must have an antivirus, because it can jump to the main machine if you move the file there. If it's just for testing a sandbox program, you don't need an antivirus or anything else, simply because you can always erase a virtual hard drive.

Answer 3

you should treat the virtual machine like a real machine.

give him some protection.

Answer 4

No, virtual machines will need the same pleasure as a real machine. But if you are not going to use it, I suggest you include backups. It will be easier to recover if your virtual machine has backups.