Hello Allie! On Sunday, February 06, 2005, 5:48 AM, you wrote:
>> I like to get my "ads" from Amazon. However, if they sent me an >> attachment, I would become quite wary. > Me too. The spammers know about Amazon sending ads and will send > fraudulent material. I get fraudulent stuff a lot concerning PayPal > and other banking issues. Oh, my. I don't bank "on-line" and it's only recently that I got PayPal. Haven't used it yet. >> I would save it to my Desktop and run F-Secure, TDS-3, SpyBot and >> Trojan Remover over it, before opening it. > I'd still not assume that it's safe. I see. Well, you truly are correct. Neither The Bat! nor my AV and anti-trojan programs can be coded against everything. At the risk of wandering slightly off-topic, I'll put a report of a narrow escape that I had with a Web Page, one that I can conceive of sending me something in the body of an HTML e-mail, if I received my e-mail in HTML: Last week I wanted the sheet music (not just the lyrics) to a 1930s popular song. Google sent me to a place called Digital Sheet Music that offered just such a download. I began the process, but as soon as the Transfer window appeared, F-Secure put up a warning that Exploit.Htm was on my machine. Of course, I said, Delete it. And got out of there fast. > If you don't have to open the attachment, then don't open it at all. Oh, you are most certainly right. And with a business, I would not have to open the attachment. I can see what Amazon has to offer right on its web pages. My brain ticks over very slowly, sometimes. > Why would you have to? A friend or business sent it to you and > described what fun, important information is in it for you to see. > IOW's, you're expecting the attachment, it's a safe format to open, > or you're accustomed to being sent more risky formats which have been > previously ok. I have never received an attachment from either Amazon.com or PayPal. So it now, ahead of time, becomes my policy to delete anything from them containing an attachment. >> And then I would expect F-Secure to catch any "archived" mal-code that >> did try to pop up when I opened it. > They can miss things. They aren't perfect. Creations of my fellow human beings. Of course they are not! >> I download no e-mail the address of which I don't recognize or which I >> am not expecting. > Ok. Great. However, don't forget fraudulent mail. The machine of > friends may also be compromised and malicious messages sent out > without their knowing. You'll see them as the sender. When an attachment arrives in a "newsletter" type e-mail from the permanent president of my undergraduate college class, sent as bulk mail to all of us, I always delete it. Frequently that's a FWD letter, where someone has sent a funny cartoon. Too risky. But she doesn't know I'm doing that. Most of my classmates are OE kids. :( I have some hope--a faint one--of winning my OE sister to The Bat! though. I just have to trust, at present, that her address won't get spoofed. If I disappear, you can assume that the Spoofers finally got me, however!! > The PayPal fraud notes are skillful. It's not until you pass the mouse > over the URL they invite you to visit that you see it's not a paypal > URL. They're taking you to a site which is likely just as fraudulent > as the message. Oh, my. Maybe I don't even need PayPal. I haven't put in any Confirmation numbers yet, to finish activating the account. >> I hope that I am not too naive and trusting. I don't know what further >> I can do to protect myself. > Unplug your machine, turn out the lights, lock your doors and.... ;) <g> > It can be difficult, but I see you're doing well already. Much better > than many who are managing anyway. :) Learned most of my policies right here on tbudl. >> I do not click on any attachment that my sister who uses Outlook >> Express-HTML sends me, unless she has sent a previous mail saying what >> it is. I read her mails in plain text, also. > Ok. But I do get many attachments from her. Long genealogy reports, pictures, compositions to proofread, "funnies" her third-grade students came up with, etc. It's a risk I'm willing to take. >> And I long ago stopped her from sending me those commercial greeting >> cards. I told her I was deleting them unopened. > :) Yes. :) Thanks, Allie. You've caused me to upgrade my cautionary policies further. Long live the Mail Dispatcher!! -- Best regards, Mary The Bat! 3.0.2.10 on Windows XP 5.1 2600 Service Pack 2 ________________________________________________ Current version is 3.0.1.33 | 'Using TBUDL' information: http://www.silverstones.com/thebat/TBUDLInfo.html
