email virus attack

[Bozo Erectus]

For the past couple of weeks, Ive been getting at least 3 or 4 emails a day from unkown emailers (obviously spoof email accounts, mostly they originate from aol.com) that contain viruses. My antivirus and various security settings have intercepted all of them and so far Im ok. My question is: You know when you view an email in Outlook Express, and even though you havent opened it, you can still see the body of the message in the bottom frame? Would a virus be able to slip through that way? Its getting to the point that Im afraid to check my email.

 

[Jeratain]

Just make sure you have Outlook fully patched and updated and you'll be fine. If you know it's a virus, or even if you don't know, just don't open the attachment and your computer is safe. Usually a virus scan will detect the virus and quarantine it from being accessed.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Thanks Jeratain, yeah thats what I thought, good to have it confirmed. Today though, I got an email saying something to the effect that an email couldnt be delivered because the email address I sent it to doesnt exist. The thing is, I didnt send the email in question. Could that mean that someone is using my email address?

 

[MarineCorps]

I get a bunch of those "can not be delivered" e mails. They are just made to look like they came from you. Probaly also include an attachment, which people who don't know better, open wondering what it is.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Well this one didnt have an attachment, but it did have some clickable links in it (which I ignored of course).

 

[Smash]

There are a number of virus that ARE activated just by having the preview pane open in OE.

Klez is a famous one that went off with preview pane.

 

[Jeratain]

Smash makes a good point actually, and I must admit, I didn't realize you were talking about Outlook Express - I thought you were referring to Outlook. OE is horrible with security compared with regular Outlook. However, I stand by my previous statement that if you are fully patched, you should be okay.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Oh man, Im kicking myself for not doing this a long time ago. I disabled the preview pane and checked 'Do not allow attachments to be saved or opend that might potentially be a virus". That ought to do the trick (hopefully).

 

[Detlef Richter]

Be carefull with unknown links in emails. It can be an executable file behind it. Outlook displays only the file name without the extension: blablabla.htm.exe is displayed as blablalba.htm. At this way you can achieve an virus, troyan or worm.
The rule have to be: 'Don't open unknown mails with attachments or links in it!'

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Detlef, yes Im very careful, thats why Ive only gotten one or two viruses in the last 9 years. My mistake was giving my email address to somebody who's computer is probably completely infested with viruses (she's an airhead of the 'wheres the any key' variety). What I think happened is that her viruses started targeting me the moment my email got into her address book.

I already got one today. But now with the preview frame in OE disabled, and the 'Do not open or save files etc' option checked, I should be ok right?

 

[crystal]

Detlef, yes Im very careful, thats why Ive only gotten one or two viruses in the last 9 years. My mistake was giving my email address to somebody who's computer is probably completely infested with viruses (she's an airhead of the 'wheres the any key' variety). What I think happened is that her viruses started targeting me the moment my email got into her address book.

Obfuscation is not security.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Obfuscation is not security.

Im not sure I know what you mean

The reason why I think her computer is probably infested with viruses is that more and more, whenever I sit down at somebody elses computer to see what their problem is (a brand new, excellent computer thats mysteriously slowing down and behaving erratically), their computers have been completely taken over by adware, spyware, viruses, you name it. I think its a growing problem. Despite the constant drumbeat out there telling people how to avoid viruses and malware, the average person out there has no clue what theyre doing online and have zero security measures set up.

Maybe its not her computer at all, its just my working hypothesis at the moment.

 

[crystal]

Im not sure I know what you mean

I'm not surprised. Let me explain. You said "My mistake was giving my email address to somebody who's computer is probably completely infested with viruses". That means you're relying in obfuscation (infected computers don't know your email address) to keep your computer secure (in other words, virus free). But when the viruses find out your email, your "security" measures suddenly become null and void.

If you need another real life analogy, think for example a bank burying their money taken from vaults somewhere in the forest. Their security is based on that nobody knows where the money is stored (compare that to secret email addresses.) Is that real security? Nope.