Mike or anyone

[magpie joffa]

I have an email sitting in my inbox,from 'unknown' subject 'none'
could this be a new virus going around.

There is nothing in life greater, than to be a supporter of our beloved collingwood football club,we must remain united,we must stand tall,we must be prepared to fight for our glorious black and white for we are the ENVY OF ALL NATIONS.'YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE'
http://www.mp3.com/joffa

[Mike]

Most likely just an email that's been damaged in transit Joffa and has a corrupt header.

It's safe to look at, but if it has attachments, don't, under any circumstances, open them. In fact never open any attachment on any email unless you're expecting and are 100% sure that the person who sent it knows that they sent it.

Email viruses these days invade your machine and send virus loaded emails to addresses they find in old messages and the address book. So if I had a virus in my machine that I was unaware of, it may send you, because I have your email address, a nice little virus package without me being aware of it. So you get an email from me with an attachment and you open it knowing that I would never send you a virus and you're infected.

So the golden rule is never open an email attachment unless you're 100% sure that it's legit, even if you have to email the person and verify that they knowingly sent it.

[magpie joffa]

Thanks mate.

There is nothing in life greater, than to be a supporter of our beloved collingwood football club,we must remain united,we must stand tall,we must be prepared to fight for our glorious black and white for we are the ENVY OF ALL NATIONS.'YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE'
http://www.mp3.com/joffa

[Broadie]

Mike - does that mean viruses can ONLY be passed on through attachments? That's one I've always been unsure about.

Broadie

[magpie joffa]

It did have an attachment so be wary people it must be a new email virus circulating.

There is nothing in life greater, than to be a supporter of our beloved collingwood football club,we must remain united,we must stand tall,we must be prepared to fight for our glorious black and white for we are the ENVY OF ALL NATIONS.'YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE'
http://www.mp3.com/joffa

[Mike]

It is always safe to view text only emails Broadie, but there are some grey areas surrounding emails that are formatted in html. Unfortunately you can't tell from the email list what type of email you are opening, although you can turn html processing off in the configuration area of the email program.

If your email client allows html processing, which most of the current crop do, there is a security flaw that allows the system to open and execute an attachment without asking first. The email client normally does not parse html code, it plugs in the default browser on the system which parses the code and creates the document. If your default browser is IE5.01 or IE5.5 you may be vulnerable.

Internet Explorer 5.01 and 5.5 have a bug which, under certain circumstances, allows the unauthorised running of a program called in the html code. There is a description of this weakness and a patch to fix it at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS01-020.asp

Turning html off in your email client will not protect you from people taking advantage of this bug while you are surfing the internet. The bug will allow the unauthorised running of programs from web pages as well as email, so if you are using IE5.01 or IE5.5 I recommend that you download and install the patch.

You can establish your IE version by clicking on Help / About Internet Explorer.

Anti-virus software will not detect this weakness because it is not a virus.

There are some other concerns involving Java and ActiveX routines launched by html in both email and web pages, but these have not yet been successfully exploited.

I should add here that it is not always safe to open trusted attachments. If the sender has a virus on their system that they are unaware of they will unwittingly pass it on to you in any program or document file they send. Most people have seen the little sheep that wanders around the screen (ewe.exe). This program was initially safe, just a bit of fun, but it was passed on mainly by email and passed through so many machines that if you receive a copy now it is likely to carry a secondary infection.

The only way to be 99% secure, and still have a life, is to keep your system protected by using virus detection software. I use Norton Anti-Virus. Vet (Australian) is another good program. Both automatically update their virus definitions when you are online.

[This message has been edited by Mike (edited 16 May 2001).]

[Broadie]

Thanks, Mike. I know I have VET, so I guess I'll feel a little secure.

Broadie