At 6:56 PM -0700 5/1/02, Jeffrey Williams wrote:
>I've been getting a lot (1-3 per day) of strange emails lately from
>unrecognizable senders, a strange Subject line and usually no message.
>I'm assuming that these are attempts to pass viruses/worms. Have any
>others of you on-list been getting these?
>
>If so, could the sslivesteam address book have come into evil hands?
>
of course, this message gets sent about an hour after i leave the office ...
*if the list came "into evil hands" it was because someone actually
harvested it by being a member of the list and captured e-mail
addresses as they were sent. the list itself is on a super-secure
computer and while i make an occasional (ok, not often-enough) list
of members that's posted on the web, you'll note that it does not
contain e-mail addresses.
*the archive of the list is constructed in such a manner that robot
spiders that crawl the web in search of addresses can't capture them
there.
*i know for a fact that a couple of members of the list are
propagating viruses and i have been in touch with them about their
individual problems. i see their problems on the list's log -- their
messages get bounced because they are sending out viruses (this is
why you can't send html-encoded e-mail or attached files -- the list
just bounces the whole lot rather than take the chance it might send
you a virus).
*all my buddies in the list-mom world are experiencing this problem
right now. the latest virus, when it launches (and yes, you're
extremely at risk if you use microsoft outlook) scans your hard drive
for e-mail addresses (not just the outlook address book). so, even if
-- for example -- you may not have my e-mail address in your book but
have *saved* an e-mail from me somewhere (not necessarily in
outlook), i would get the virus e-mail from you.
*virus-catchers are great for known viruses, but unless you
constantly update your catcher, it won't necessarily find the next
bad virus. though the programmers are working on what they call
"heuristic" algorithms that can (for lack of a better word) "guess"
at whether an application may be a virus, the current best technology
is to look for known viruses. if you don't update your virus-catcher,
it won't know what the latest viruses are. morale: once a month check
your virus-catcher's web site to see if they have an update.
*i hate to use my august position to bill-bash here, but this
situation is another example of why using microsoft products is
generally a bad idea. in real life i am a computer consultant (among
other things) and when pressed, i always vote to not use microsoft
products (and have only a limited number on my personal systems).
right now the safest place to be on the internet is running a
macintosh os 9 or below machine that dials up. second best is a
flavor of unix that you *know* is secure that dials up. dead last is
a windows machine using outlook that is constantly connected. ymmv.
\dmc
ps: btw, i get between 100 and 200 spams a day, when you count all my
e-mail addresses.
--
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Dave Cole
Gen'l Sup't: Grand Teton & Everglades Steam Excursion Co.
Pacifica, Calif. USA <http://45mm.com/> <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
List Mom: sslivesteam, the list of small-scale live steamers
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
ATTEND THE 2002 NATIONAL SUMMER STEAMUP IN PLEASANTON, CALIF., JULY 12-14
For more information, visit <http://www.summersteamup.com/>
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