Question:

[deadangels]

The majority of viruses are made for Windows, then MacOS and Linux. Is it even possible to get malware from something like a phishing attack? Is browsing on the 3DS technically the safest way to browse the internet besides a VM?

 

[FAST6191]

Your browser, which is presumably unpatched in years and never particularly hardened* in the first place, could leak info (you might not want your history splashed around the place, indeed even cookies could be a problem for some), your browser could hose up the SSL connection and leave the data able to be decrypted by other parties (to say nothing of it possibly being old enough to have to use old protocols), if it matters I doubt the browser has a blacklist of bad sites (though many would probably want to go for DNS level there).

*technically the awful javascript performance it has is because of security measures making more dynamic things harder.

Possible to get malware on a 3ds via browser (here kid visit this link on the browser)? I don't think we saw exploits particularly using the browser but I can't rule one out somewhere (especially if it uses various image libraries that do get compromises), and that in turn could be used to do something. I doubt anybody would make such a thing these days (someone that skilled could make a lot more via other means legit and otherwise) though.

 

[Kwyjor]

Please don't ever start a thread on a message board with a subject line like "Question:".

I don't think we saw exploits particularly using the browser

There were definitely a couple; one of them even let you load up arbitrary GB roms in the Virtual Console, for instance. But they're all old and patched out now. (I reckon there's probably some more quietly being held in reserve.)

Is it even possible to get malware from something like a phishing attack?

A "phishing attack" by definition is a way of tricking someone into revealing personal information. So, yes, while someone is being tricked, the attacker could install some malware as well. This is a confusing question.

Is browsing on the 3DS technically the safest way to browse the internet besides a VM?

The 3DS browser is painfully limited. You would be much safer if you completely disabled Javascript everywhere in a modern browser, for instance – but a lot of websites would be unusable.