VIRUS WARNING...

[Scorp]

Hey Folks,

Just an FYI to Use Caution...

This email just came to us company-wide from our IT Folks:

There is a new virus spreading via email that is currently infecting hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide. The email often arrives with subject line: 'Here You Have.' or 'Just For You'

One version of the e-mail simply says, "Hello: This is The Document I told you about, you can find it here" and includes a link that appears to be a pdf document. Once your machine is infected it will then send the same email to everyone in your contact list in an effort to spread itself and will drop infected files on mapped network drives.

If you receive such an email simply delete it without clicking on the link in the email and no further action is required by you.

Best,

-Scorp-

[dreadgeek]

Scorp:

Thanks for the warning.

A couple of things that you should keep in mind to keep yourself protected from malware (viruses, spyware, etc.)

1) NEVER open an attachment from someone you do not know. Ever. EVER! If someone you do not know sends you a document then assume its a virus.

2) If you are in a Windows environment run anti-virus software and anti-spywre software. If you are running a Mac you don't NEED to run them constantly but it's nice to have them present on your system. (I don't run real-time anti-virus software on my Macbook Pro but I have anti-virus software installed.)

3) NEVER click on a link if you are uncertain about it. When you see a link in an email you should either put your mouse cursor over the link (which should show you the URL) or copy and paste the link into a TEXT editor (Notepad or Wordpad on Windows, TextEdit, BBEdit or Aquamacs on Mac) that way you can see what the *actual* URL is. (A lot of scammers will just do some link (http://www.dreadgeek.org) which makes it *look* like the URL is legit when it is not. If the URL says that it goes to, for instance, Chase.com but when you copy and paste you see that it goes to http://ima.scumbag-spammer.ru or what have you you know it is a fake.

4) Your bank, your utility companies, your school will NEVER email you out of the blue and ask you to email your password. Never. Ever. If you get an email that appears to be from your bank etc. asking you to go to some website and verify your password assume it is a fake. DON'T click the link. Instead, go to the website of your bank directly and verify it there.

5) NEVER send personal information 'in the clear' over email. Email is *inherently* insecure which does not mean you shouldn't use it. If you need to send confidential information by email, invest in a public-key encryption program like PGP (http://www.pgp.com).


Cheers
Aj

[Admin]

Interestinly enough - I got one of these emails at my WORK email address not 10 minutes after Scorp posted this thread!!

[SassyLeo]

We just heard that one of our vendors (huge corporation) just had this virus infect their entire email system (Lotus Notes, which we use also)

:|

[dreadgeek]

We just heard that one of our vendors (huge corporation) just had this virus infect their entire email system (Lotus Notes, which we use also)

:|

I'm so sorry you have to use Lotus Notes. I used to support that piece of &!%*#&!*@ and have a deep and abiding loathing for it.

Cheers
Aj

[MsDemeanor]

I must have gotten twenty of these yesterday at my work email.