Author: Albert Silver
Date: 06:30:59 02/27/04
Go up one level in this thread
On February 27, 2004 at 08:56:00, martin fierz wrote:
>On February 26, 2004 at 19:18:31, Albert Silver wrote:
>
>>On February 26, 2004 at 18:13:43, Bob Durrett wrote:
>>
>>>On February 26, 2004 at 16:18:41, John Merlino wrote:
>>>
>>>>On February 26, 2004 at 14:01:25, Stephen Ham wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>Dear John,
>>>>>
>>>>>I just received the following email, with attachment, from John Merlino. Since
>>>>>you're the only John Merlino whom I know, I thought I'd better post this to you.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Thanks for your registration.
>>>>>( We say Sorry again, the first mail was delivered to an unknown mail address.
>>>>>This was a bug in our mailing system! )
>>>>>
>>>>>The amount of 239.- USD was deducted by your credit card.
>>>>>
>>>>>Welcome,
>>>>>you can now visit more than 1200 very very hot web pages!
>>>>>Your registration, pages and passwords are in the attachment.
>>>>>
>>>>>enjoy
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>His email address is: John.Merlino@smtp02.fields.gol.com and he sent this to my
>>>>>work address, which is odd. That John Merlino didn't leave a name after writing
>>>>>"enjoy."
>>>>>
>>>>>I don't recall trying to register anywhere and I certainly don't recall
>>>>>authorizing any debit to my credit card for $239. The mention of "hot web pages"
>>>>>sounds like porno. You're not in that business now, are you, John? ;-) Since
>>>>>there's an attachment, this looks like a virus/worm.
>>>>>
>>>>>I'm guessing that it's a mere coincidence that the sender's name is the same as
>>>>>yours. I plan to delete the email after you confirm that you didn't send it.
>>>>>
>>>>>Thanks in advance, John.
>>>>>
>>>>>All the very best,
>>>>>Stephen Ham
>>>>
>>>>Well, I certainly didn't send it. :-) And I checked to make sure that your
>>>>e-mail that is listed in your profile is NOT in my address book, so I doubt I
>>>>have a virus.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>I don't have any virus-checking software, but
>>>
>>>!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>>>
>>>Unbelievable!!!
>>>
>>
>>I have to echo this. That is sheer lunacy (please don't be offended, it is in
>>proportion to my concern), and I can only conclude you have little idea how
>>vulnerable you really are.
>
>i'd like to add a little story to this. i consider myself to be quite
>computer-literate, but i just fell into something:
>
>i upgraded my home machine from windows ME to win XP. my XP version is the
>original win XP without all the security holes stuffed up. my computer is
>connected to the net with a cable modem, always on (it has to be to have muse
>play on ICC...). i have mcafee + zonealarm to protect my pc. here's what i
>didn't think about:
>
>once i upgraded to XP, it wasn't starting mcafee + zonealarm on startup any
>more. within a couple of minutes (probably it was only seconds, but i didn't
>notice quite as fast), my PC was infected with 2 worms (i didn't even have to
>open my email program for this...). when i attempted to open my virus scanner it
>closed down immediately again, same with regedit. the worm monitors your system
>and shoots down programs it doesn't like (after all, even a worm wants to
>live!). the windows update site was no use either, because the updates couldn't
>be installed any more.
>
>i had to start in safe mode, scan everything from there, because the worm is a
>service that gets started on system startup except in safe mode.
>
>bottom line: if you have no protection on the net these days, you are infected
>instantly. i used to think that most of the talk about firewalls and virus
>killers was panic-making fuelled by anti-virus and firewall manufacturers, that
>with "good behavior" (e.g. never open attachments of dubious nature) you were
>pretty safe anyway. i have revised my opinion!
>
>cheers
> martin
Yes, the problem is that it is so easy to be infected it's not even funny. Many
times many think the issue is one of installing or opening programs of dubious
origins, but a virus can come from Javascript or java applets from webpages
without one's knowledge. Do not think for an instant it is going to hijack your
Outlook or whatever e-mail client to send e-mail. It will send it behind your
back on its own.
Firewall protection is probably much worse. I have a cable modem connection so I
understand the vulnerability. Most hackers are content to mess around, see what
you have, etc. Some not. For example, in the last 2 hours that I have been
online, I have had 6 intrusion attempt. Since I installed the program 2 years
ago or so, it has prevented 3097 intrusions, 271 of which were considered
serious attempts to break in. Others can include lighter things such as pings to
see if I'm online, etc.
Albert
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