Main OS: Windows 7. Mostly, playing games and social browsing.
Secondary OS: Ubuntu, Stores Bitcoin and logging into sensitive data with addons such as no script etc.
I was wondering if the main OS encountered a virus/malware then would this affect the dual boot? Would it affect ubuntu. I understand that it takes different types of viruses for windows and linux. However lets just say it can affect both. is it possible for the virus to spread onto my dual boot?
Theoretically, yes. In actuallity, no. The virus would need admin privileges in order to mount the disk or partition with Ubuntu, and it would need to install drivers to read the different drive formatting. Furthermore, due to the permissions on a Linux system, anything written to the Ubuntu disk from windows probably doesn't have the permissions to run. Even, so, the virus could still exploit something in Ubuntu in order to run.
This attack is highly unlikely, and I think it would only happen if you were targeted specifically. If you are paranoid, I would advise updating both OSes frequently and being careful of what you browse. Encrypt all your data on the Ubuntu OS. If it is on a second disk, I you should be able to encrypt that disk (it may even work on a partition, I'm not sure), which would prevent anyone from being able to read the data without the password, thus preventing any attack from Windows to Ubuntu, provided of course, you don't have a keylogger and never used the decryption password in Windows.
