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Diamond product expert (maximum level expert for Chromebooks) Jim Dantin stated in a community post that

(quoting user) Chromebooks can be infected by viruses.

(response) It's never happened to a user in the 10 years that ChromeOS has been available.

I find it HIGHLY unlikely that no Chromebook has ever gotten a virus.

Is there any proof he is wrong?

Sorry if this isn't notable enough, a google so called expert seems notable to me.

JRE
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Topcode
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    A quick Google search seems to support notability [eg](https://www.howtogeek.com/356474/8-things-you-may-not-know-about-chromebooks/) (many believe chrome OS doesn't need antivirus). You might consider searching/asking on https://superuser.com/. –  Dec 18 '20 at 03:55
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    That quick search also indicates a definitional problem that answers should address. A computer virus, malicious code that inserts itself into other processes, is pretty rare these days, even on Windows. Colloquially used, a "virus" means almost any malware kind, of which all OS systems are susceptible to a degree. –  Dec 18 '20 at 04:03
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    https://blog.malwarebytes.com/101/2018/12/yes-chromebooks-can-and-do-get-infected/ – Fizz Dec 18 '20 at 06:20
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    @Fizz: That's an answer. Are you willing to expand it as such? – DevSolar Dec 18 '20 at 15:26
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    Relevant XKCD https://xkcd.com/1180/ – DenisS Dec 18 '20 at 15:47
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    Can malicious Chrome extensions be considered viruses? In particular I am thinking of the [Nemucod Chrome extension](https://threatpost.com/nemucod-infections-spreading-locky-over-facebook/122062/) which used the Facebook accounts of those who downloaded it to trick more people into downloading it. (The extension would sometimes also download Windows malware but did it use other operating systems as a vector to proliferate the malware via Facebook? I’m not sure. Nothing I’ve found explains what it did when installed on ChromeOS.) – Laurel Dec 18 '20 at 17:34
  • Important distinction - not all bad things that can happen to your computer by means of a malicious agent are caused by viruses. Phishing sites, email scams, etc can, and _will_, cause grievances to any unaware user, no matter their system. – T. Sar Dec 18 '20 at 19:39
  • @fredsbend You can't install any applications on Chrome OS. That includes antivirus applications. And if you can't install any applications, it means you can't install any viruses either. Chrome OS is a Linux distribution. Which means their security is very different from Microsoft Windows. Security is built into the OS and it won't allow, e.g your browser, access to your root. – dan-klasson Dec 18 '20 at 19:48
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    @dan-klasson you either have a version of Windows from the 90s or a deliberately unsecured set up if your browser on Windows has admin rights. The approach to security is somewhat different philosophically between Windows and most Linux distributions, but the problem they face is the same. They're open platforms, so the user can install anything they like. The ChromeOS, while based on the Linux kernel, is nearly a completely closed system. The user cannot easily install software not vetted by Google itself. That's the reason it's secure. It has nothing to do with the kernel they chose. – PC Luddite Dec 20 '20 at 00:01
  • "Can malicious Chrome extensions be considered viruses?" I would say yes, as in a broad term a computer virus is just any malicious piece of software installed on a computer – Topcode Dec 20 '20 at 15:41
  • @PCLuddite No. They are not "open" platforms. Chrome OS does not allow you to install anything. Linux gives you the ability to limit that access. Regarding the browsing part, you might be right. I haven't touched Windoze since the 90s. – dan-klasson Dec 21 '20 at 16:11
  • @dan-klasson that's my point. ChromeOS is secure because it's a closed platform. If for whatever reason they had a fork of Windows that they locked down (not unlike Xbox), it would be similarly secure. The kernel has very little to do with its inherent security. – PC Luddite Dec 21 '20 at 16:40
  • @PCLuddite "The kernel has very little to do with its inherent security". Thank you for the laugh of the day. Maybe Windows has improved. But I still very much doubt that statement. Just this week there was a hack scandal involving Windows. – dan-klasson Dec 21 '20 at 16:45
  • @dan-klasson not sure why a statement of fact would be funny. I think you may be confusing some terminology because you can easily create a Linux distro that lacks security features that even Windows has. Linux is just a kernel. Not a full OS. The security of both of their kernels would probably be the same if you could figure out an objective metric to measure that. It's the fact that it's a closed system that makes ChromeOS secure. That's why I say it has nothing to do with the kernel. A modern OS kernel is pretty secure these days no matter the OS... – PC Luddite Dec 21 '20 at 20:13
  • @PCLuddite Because the kernel is secure. Sure you could create a distro that bypasses security. But that's very different from your assertion that "the kernel has very little to do with its inherent security". Also, Chrome OS never did do that. It has always been very restrictive of what you can do with it. – dan-klasson Dec 22 '20 at 17:39
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    @dan-klasson you may be forgetting that right now, one of the most malware-laden OS's is a Linux distro - namely, android. – T. Sar Dec 29 '20 at 03:34
  • @T.Sar If you download things from untrusted sources yeah. But 99.9% of Android users download from the Playstore. Where there is no malware. Linux is never going to secure from installs. Nor should it. – dan-klasson Jan 04 '21 at 21:21
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    @dan-klasson That is an incorrect myth. A lot of malware ends up on the app store. [You can check more details here.](https://www.zdnet.com/article/play-store-identified-as-main-distribution-vector-for-most-android-malware/). The amount of malware a platform is susceptible has little to do with the platform itself, and everything to do with how much someone has to gain by hacking it up. As Linux gains more usage, it becomes more interesting to create malware for it. Heck, there is a LOT of malware for Linux right now... – T. Sar Jan 05 '21 at 17:20

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