Folks, I have followed the emails re a virus from Colonial Brass. I agree with a previous posting that Colonial Brass are unwitting victims of one of the newer viruses.
The information below comes from my ISP (Telstra Bigpond). Take particular note of the way the virus works, and how it randomly choses a "sender" address and a recipient address. ____________________ 2. Klez Email Confusion Viruses - especially email-based viruses - are a major annoyance for all Internet users. The recent "Klez" virus goes beyond this. Many readers have reported receiving emails from strangers asking why they contacted them. Other readers have reported receiving emails warning that the email they sent to XYZ business contained an infected attachment. In each case, no email had been sent. Such incidents are, understandably, causing considerable confusion. To clarify some issues relating to email-based viruses generally: - If your PC becomes infected with an email-based virus, the virus may search for all email addresses recorded on your PC, such as in your email address book. It will then 'covertly' (that is, without your knowledge or involvement) send emails containing virus-infected attachments from your PC to those email addresses. Some viruses will even trawl through the email messages you have stored in your email folders to extract additional email addresses. As a result, if your PC becomes infected with an email-based virus, you may unwittingly be responsible for sending dozens, possibly hundreds, of virus-infected emails to friends and associates. All this can happen without any knowledge on your part. - As mentioned in Ponderings #66, many of the emails the virus tries to send will not reach the intended recipient (because the email address used is no longer valid etc.). These emails will "bounce" and be returned to your email address, which may cause your Telstra BigPond Home mailbox to overflow, resulting in difficulties receiving email. - Email-based viruses can infect your PC without any user-interaction. Earlier viruses could only infect your PC if you manually opened or launched a virus-infected email attachment. Modern viruses can "self-execute" - you only need to view the email message containing the attachment and the virus will be activated. Generally, if your PC becomes infected with an email-based virus, it doesn't take long for telltale signs to appear. You may receive alerts from friends and colleagues that you are distributing virus-infected emails or sending attachments to emails they did not request. Alternatively, you might receive 'bounced' emails that clog your mailbox. These are all classic signs that your PC is infected and you should take immediate steps to "clean" your PC of the virus. Unfortunately, the recent Klez virus added some new "twists" to the process. When the Klez virus infects a PC, it quickly scans the PC for email addresses that it can send copies of itself to. However, when it sends its virus-infected emails, it randomly chooses two email addresses at a time: one address is used as the recipient (i.e. the person who will receive the virus-infected email) and the other address is inserted in the "Sender" field. In effect, the virus appears to be coming from someone other than the person with the virus infected PC. The result is utter mayhem. To give an example: Say Alice's PC becomes infected with the Klez virus. The virus scans her PC for email addresses and finds several, including those of Bob and Mary. The virus then sends a virus-infected email to Bob, but inserts Mary's details in the From: field. Bob gets the virus-infected email, which is detected by his anti-virus software. He sends a curt email informing Mary that her PC is infected. However, Mary also uses anti-virus software and knows her PC is clean. All the while, Alice is none the wiser, and the virus continues sending out infected emails to her friends and colleagues with bogus sender details. A few pieces of advice. First, if you don't have anti-virus software, invest in some today, otherwise you may be contributing to the problem. Second, if you receive a virus-infected email, it is a good idea to send an email to the person that it apparently came from with a quick warning that their PC appears to be infected. However, don't be abusive - the email may not be from them at all. For more information about protecting your PC from viruses and other malicious programs, read the Viruses FAQ. URL: Viruses FAQ - http://www.bigpond.com/Home/Support/Help/FAQ/Viruses.asp?stage=99 ________________________________ Cheers, John **** NEW MOBILE NUMBER 0427 82 0034 **** [EMAIL PROTECTED] *************** "Simplicity is a very challenging thing" Phillip Glass (US minimalist composer) 15 January 2000 -
