virus over WiFi

[pineappledab]

Hey guys, dumb question... I had a family member over last night with an infected macbook. I had to connect to my WiFi via smart router provided by ISP. Anyhow, the connection required me to put my encrypted pw obviously. So my concern was after I connected the infected macbook to my WiFi with no other pc's on at the time I was able to download the proper software to free the macbook of any malware/viruses(I thought macbook were not capable of viruses, especially those written for windows). I was under the impression macbooks act as carriers for window viruses even though macs cannot be infected by such code. Main point is I have unplugged both modem and smart router since fixing family members pc using my network. Mind you, this person has no knowledge on computers and browses pron very often; rendering them vulnerable to malicious attacks. Long story short I'm afraid to reconnect my router and modem let alone connect my windows laptop to the network without concern if any malicious content(malware,Spyware,bots,etc...) may be attached to my router or modem or network somehow. Any information to put me at ease much appreciated. I am new so hello and thank you so much!

 

[Skylyne]

Is it possible you have an infection on your network that could spread, once you have reconnected everything? Well, chances are slim, but it's possible. I'd say you're under no more harm than if one of your computers was infected, and on the network for the same amount of time. In fact, the one you fixed will most likely pose less of a threat than any of your computers.

Yes, there is always a chance that connecting an infected computer to a network might pose a risk to the other computers on that network; however, with most of the infections that are widely known, used, and created, the chances of them spreading to the router/modem, and onto other devices by itself, is substantially low.