Friendly, But Deadly
October 3, 2006 | By Raymond T. Hightower
When your “system administrator” asks you to install an update via email, it’s never a good idea. For example, I received the following message from a “friendly” computer support person this morning:
Mail server report.Our firewall determined the e-mails containing worm copies are being sent from your computer.
Nowadays it happens from many computers, because this is a new virus type (Network Worms).
Using the new bug in the Windows, these viruses infect the computer unnoticeably.
After the penetrating into the computer the virus harvests all the e-mail addresses and sends the copies of itself to these e-mail addressesPlease install updates for worm elimination and your computer restoring.
Best regards,
Customers support service
The sender was kind enough to attach a file archive (.zip) for me to install. How nice! But of course, this is a trap!
If you’re reading this message, you’ve probably heard warnings like this from Wisdom before. Feel free to share the warning with your friends and colleagues. A “healthy” level of paranoia can prevent system problems before they happen!
As with all emails, the potential for virus is extremely high. As an IT support person, my difficulties lie with the USER. Most USERS feel the email is important because it has been sent from someone or some company they work with on a fairly regular basis.
The best rule of thumb for the USER is to delete the email. If it’s important, the sender will send it again.
Any level of paranoia is good, but none is dangerous!