what a drag...

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Master Baiter Joined: 20 Jul 2007 Posts: 100

Hi...

I checked my RL email and saw--sender: lanka@ learnlink.emory.edu subject there is an ecard waiting for you. I didn't open it because there's no pending occasion at my place so I can't think why I would be receiving a card of any sort. Altho, a thinking about You card from someone special would be a real nice treat in my otherwise ordinary day, I'm now so paranoid from all the stuff I've read about what's been going on that I don't dare open it. What a shame, eh. Sad

Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 6:04 pm

If you do not know the sender, don't open it. Good call ! Very Happy

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

Even if you DO know it is from I wouldn't open the attachment.

Quote:

An executable type attachment should not be opened unless it was specifically requested or expected. Since email worms are sent to addresses found on infected users' machines, just knowing the sender is no proof of intent - they may well be infected. In fact, odds are an email worm will arrive from someone you know and the sender is oblivious to the viral email being sent from their machine. Worse, today's worms spoof the From address, so it may well be that it's not even from the person you think it is. If there's any question as to the intent

Snipped from http://antivirus.about.com/od/securitytips/a/emailsafety.htm

Edit: This is the key phrase... "An executable type attachment should not be opened unless it was specifically requested or expected." E-Cards should be never be opened. Tell grandma to buy a stamp. Wink

Master Baiter Joined: 20 Jul 2007 Posts: 100

^Wow. What do you mean by 'spoof'?

edit: LOL--i just now saw your stamp remark

edit to question--not 'what' but how can they spoof?

Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 6:20 pm

Spoofing is the ability to make an email look like it came from a different source. Using a legit looking source increases the odds that a victim will open any attachment inside w/o paying attention.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 41

Quote:

spoof the From address

The emails claim to be from somebody you normally correspond with. I get emails from "my corporate office" with "That invoice you requested" files attached all of the time.

Master Baiter Joined: 20 Jul 2007 Posts: 100

how do they do that, do you know? it kinda sounds like they would have to have access to your computer. i know Dell can do that dell.connect thing, which is quite futuristically weird...

Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 6:29 pm

One method that does not involve spoofing is: some viruses can infiltrate your contact list in your email client (such as Outlook) and send a payload to everyone in there. So your Uncle or friend has a virus that emails itself to you, and it not only looks like it's from them, it is.

Isn't that clever? Evil or Very Mad

Master Baiter Joined: 20 Jul 2007 Posts: 100

My email is Yahoo and, since meeting the Eater crowd, gmail. Does that mean that I'm relatively safer than if I were using Outlook?

Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 6:39 pm

I think it depends more on the firewall and how up to date your Anti virus is, than your email client.

Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 6:39 pm

sybille wrote:

how do they do that, do you know? it kinda sounds like they would have to have access to your computer. i know Dell can do that dell.connect thing, which is quite futuristically weird...

There are programs out there you can buy to do it. <i>If </i> I remember correctly, spoofing is illegal, for the obvious reasons. Dell can have many email addresses for different departments. The "." period in the name means nothing; as my work email address has it to separate my first and last name in the address.

Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 6:42 pm

sybille wrote:

My email is Yahoo and, since meeting the Eater crowd, gmail. Does that mean that I'm relatively safer than if I were using Outlook?

The infection mostly depends on yourself manually clicking on the .exe file in the email to start the process. Nothing is 100% safe, although most online email services scan incoming mail for suspicious email attachments (.zip or .exe for example) where as Outlook I don't think does it unless you turn the setting on.

Master Baiter Joined: 20 Jul 2007 Posts: 100

Thanks for the info, ...OxygenD, i just finished reading about your Parc3l D1r3ct -- human cargo, too, eh! Very Happy

Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 7:49 pm

sybille wrote:

... there is an ecard waiting for you. ...

Is that really the first one you've ever received?

That spam has been going on for years. I wouldn't open an ecard even if my mother sent me one on my birthday and told me the exact hour it would arrive.

Tr�s dangerous.