Mike Monett wrote: > Mike, > > Sorry to bring this subject up again, but there may be another reason to > ask people to disable html when posting to the silver list. > > On one of the newsgroups I inhabit, sci.electronics.design, someone > recently posted a link to an enginering site. When engineers clicked on the > link, their antivirus programs and incoming filters showed the presence of > a virus on their computers. It took a bit of effort to find out how it got > there. > > Now we all know (don't we?) that viruses can take advantage of javascript > flaws to sneak onto your computer. But this virus had an unusual method of > infection that invoked Visual Basic, and it would automatically infect with > no user action other than clicking on the link.
That is why I have Visual Basic disabled in my browser. > It was an extremely nasty > virus and would damage most of the files on your disk. But it required html > to propagate. > > The Mafia and other criminals have discovered the wealth available on the > web by finding new ways to infect computers and steal bank and credit card > account information and passwords. All it would take is one person to get > infected, and everyone would get hit. > > The results would depend on what safeguards different people use, but it is > possible that new methods might be developed that bypass current methods. > Any we may not find out for a long time that we have been compromised. > > So it might be a good idea to suggest a bit more strongly that people > should not use html to post. I don't see how that would help. A link can be posted with html or not, almost all browsers will make the link highlighted to click on either way. > > > I don't know what email clients people use, but it is most likely Outlook. > This would immediately run the embedded virus and infect the computer. > There are many other browsers and email clients that don't have the > problems that Microsoft has, and it might be a good idea to look at Firefox > and Opera for browsing, and any of the multitude of email clients for > posting. Even these cannot guarantee immunity, so get a good firewall if > you don't have one, and keep practising safe hex. > Yes, I use Netscape and Eudora for emails to avoid such problems. Marshall > > Best Wishes, > > Mike M. > > -- > The Silver List is a moderated forum for discussing Colloidal Silver. > > Instructions for unsubscribing are posted at: http://silverlist.org > > To post, address your message to: [email protected] > > Address Off-Topic messages to: [email protected] > > The Silver List and Off Topic List archives are currently down... > > List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]> >
