Programs that "phone home" virtualized within VBOX

[cat2005]

Hi,

Some programs "phone home" or otherwise send data to an outside location without your express knowledge / consent.

I. For the sake of argument, let us assume I have the following setup:

a) Host OS - Linux
b) Guest OS - either Windows or Linux
c) Questionable Program - some program I want to use within virtualbox Guest OS, but do not fully trust (i.e., I suspect it will try to "phone home" or otherwise send data).

II. Let us further assume the questionable program does "phone home" or otherwise send data about my setup.

Here is what I am trying to understand:

Would the questionable program send data related to my Guest OS, Host OS or both? Or could the answer be more complicated?

Thank you.

[Technologov]

Questionable program will phone home and reveal information about your Guest OS. Not Host OS.

To prevent that, you can disable networking for a VM. (disconnect virtual cables, or even removing virtual NICs)

[cat2005]

Questionable program will phone home and reveal information about your Guest OS. Not Host OS.

To prevent that, you can disable networking for a VM. (disconnect virtual cables, or even removing virtual NICs)

How would I do so? The manual has a brief "Virtual Networking" section but I confess I don't understand any of it. Do you know of any guides, tutorials, or just good background resources?

Thank you again.

[Technologov]

I have reviewed documentation. It seems fine to me. If you think it needs improvement, let's discuss it.

Section 6.3 speaks about the non-attached mode. (disconnected virtual cables)

The other option (removing virtual NICs) is trivial to see from the GUI.
VM -> Settings -> Network -> Adapter{1-4} -> [ ]Enable Network Adapter
Make sure it is disabled.

As for me, I did learn virtualization from tinkering around and asking questions on the internet.

I even wrote few articles on this topic: (now outdated)
Using VirtualBox: the new era User-Friendly x86 PC Virtualizer:
http://forgeftp.novell.com/lfl/.html/virtualbox.html
and
Virtualization Theory:
http://forgeftp.novell.com/lfl/.html/vi ... ation.html

-Technologov

[cat2005]

Technologov,

Based upon my ignorance, I need to learn more "basic knowledge" about network first, because I don't understand many of the concepts presented. I will take a look at those links you gave. In the meantime, do you know of any websites, etc that could provide a "basic intro" into networks (virtual or physical) that are newbie friendly?

Thank you again for your help.