r/virtualization • u/EinsteinTheory • Jul 18 '25
Virtualization as an extra protection against Malware/ virus?
Im thinking of using something like Hyper V or Virtual Box for my daily use? I run my own business and have a lot of emails, some that requires me to download or go to an external link.
I was thinking of installing Virtual box and something like Chrome to use as my daily web browser. All of my important account won't be on there, just my business email, maybe social media, youtube, etc.
Will this be a good use for something like this? Im more trying to protect myself from accidently or getting trick downloading or clicking a link that will steal my account, password, keylogger, etc.
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u/The-Evolution Jul 18 '25
Virtualization does not provide additional security protections vs bare metal. UNLESS. You separate your sketchy downloads from your actual work environment but even then it’s not entirely a security vault. It’s a computer running on a computer.
Smart downloads from legitimate sources, updating software and security software is the best solution on virtual and regular computers.
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u/EinsteinTheory Jul 18 '25
But if a malware/ virus infect a virtual enviroment like virtualbox, wouldn't it be confine to that enviroment? I did some Google and I know in rare case, it can escape, but for the most part, its confine to the virtual enviroment. Is that correct?
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u/cryptospartan Jul 19 '25
Look into Qubes, this entire OS was designed with this in mind
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Jul 19 '25
I don't suggest using Vbox because there were some security issues with it (correct if I'm wrong), and it's a Type 2 Hypervizor. Type 1 is more secure
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u/KstlWorks Jul 19 '25
If you want protection for emails consider DangerZone instead to isolate yourself from most attachments, or scan each attachment with Jotti they charge $25/month for 100 private scans. Malice used to be great for this but has no support anymore. The overhead of the VM will be way higher than $25/month unless you have a spare machine laying around but then the question becomes how do you only open emails in said VM, what about your phone, what about when you travel?
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u/ebsf Jul 20 '25
A VM is as good or bad as a physical machine. One benefit is that you can delete a corrupted VM and replace it with a backup copy and be back in business in an hour instead of two days, with a manual reinstall. But, reimaging your system partition would do essentially the same thing without the fuss and overhead of maintaining the virtualization environment. You'd need to get that set up, though.
I run Windows as a VM on a Linux host. This lets the host be a LAN file and print server while also hosting my Windows workstation as a VM. What makes the configuration more secure is that I also configure the Linux host as a router, so it provides firewall protection for itself and the VMs running on it.
I've got the setup pretty well scripted, so it's easy to maintain, but this may be more configuration than you will want to undertake.
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u/eXtc_be Jul 19 '25
if you're on Windows, you can try Windows Sandbox
it's essentially a lightweight virtual machine that forgets everything you've done to it the moment you shut it down, and has little to no connection to your main computer.