it depends on what is your current goal and what is reality. I say that ignoring the problem, won't help because I am convinced that not only a swarm of clones is going to sweep over the internet, but new strands that can wreck havoc just by altering a few lines(which I won't publish here). Anyway, any solution to provide a signature to your message would enhance your security and reliability in the eyes of your clients. This is an ongoing effort that cannot be done in two claps of a 3rd party software. I think that first, you should signature your messages to insure yourself. Second, in your from header:" specify that without a proper signature in the message body this message is invalid and forged" that way, (most~)viruses that will use randomly your address will also include this statement(because they are not conscious, hence STUPID in the broader sense. again, if someone want to hurt you specifically then there is no defense). third, create an appropriate, well formed reply to new contacts that received a forged email that will include a well trusted 3rd party information about the virus and also include the signature for future messages. In all time try to appear professional, most users will understand especially when the new strands will apear and make more headlines. Forth and most important, don't immerse yourself in what you can't do and instead try your best to prevent as much as you can future occurrences. Or in another words, don't give up so quickly. Its a war out there ;)
p.s: about the signature: the solution I gave is just a generic example of adding some kind of signature and a 1 click verification procedure using a webpage verification or what have you. You could use pgp if u wanted, and even if ur users are "dummies" they don't have to know what really going on and do some stuff behind the scenes for them. * - * - * Tzahi Fadida [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fax (+1 Outside the US) 240-597-3213 * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * WARNING TO SPAMMERS: see at http://members.lycos.co.uk/my2nis/spamwarning.html > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Eli Marmor > Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2002 7:22 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: OT: The Heaviest Wave of Viruses > > > OK, I'll say it the last time: > > It's great that people try to resolve the problem, and I > appreciate it. > > But the problem that you try to resolve, is not the problem that I > mentioned. > > My problem is that thousands of people, who have never received any e- > mail from me, receive a virus that my name is put on it as the sender > of the message. Some of them (1%-2% according to my > estimates) respond, > I explain (I have a ready description), and all of them > understand that > it was not me and even thank me for the patience and the explanations. > Others (10%-20% according to my estimates), guess that the address is > fake. The rest (most of the recipients), are sure that I sent them a > virus but never respond. In the best case, they just think that I am a > damn idiot that doesn't know how to defend against viruses, and in the > worst case they think that I'm a cruel person who tries to > infect them, > damage their data and hard-disk, and publish their most sensitive > secrets to the world. > > Those people are random, and were not taken from my mailing list > (because I've never been infected). They have never received an e-mail > from me, so they don't know anything about my signatures/attachment/ > URL/etc. I even don't have any opportunity to convince them or to tell > them, because (except for the 1%-2% that were mentioned above) they > don't contact me, but prefer to hate me. I even will never know that > they received those viruses. > > If you obsess to find a solution, the most that you can achieve is by > publishing and advertizing. The world is not going to change, or to > adopt a new authentication system. But if they will read it in the > newspapers and watch it in TV, they will understand that when they > receive something from [EMAIL PROTECTED], sometimes it's not Bill, > but somebody else. > > It's not a perfect solution, but it's still better by thousands of > percents than the other ideas that were mentioned here. > > So again, thank you all, but please don't waste your time in trying to > resolve unresolvable problems. There are so many problems in the world > that are waiting for your solution; Focus your efforts on them... > -- > Eli Marmor > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > CTO, Founder > Netmask (El-Mar) Internet Technologies Ltd. > __________________________________________________________ > Tel.: +972-9-766-1020 8 Yad-Harutzim St. > Fax.: +972-9-766-1314 P.O.B. 7004 > Mobile: +972-50-23-7338 Kfar-Saba 44641, Israel > > ================================================================= > To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with > the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command > echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > ================================================================To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
