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Many attacks arrive in email, appearing as though they are from friends,
co-workers and business associates. Some come when you download an application from the Internet,
or with things that you receive via instant message programs or other chat software.
Virus emails may arrive with intriguing subjects meant to trick you
into opening them and the attachments.
Attacks are generally broken down into a different types, a few of the
more common ones being: VIRUS, TROJAN and WORM.
VIRUS:
A malicious program that attaches itself to your computer files.
When you run the application that the virus is attached to, the virus becomes active. The virus may try to
damage system files or may simply be mischievous, but will often try to attach itself to other files in your
computer. Thus even system backups can be affected.
TROJAN:
A Trojan Horse, while not a virus, is still an attack on a computer. Like the Trojan Horse of mythology,
this is an attack that's given to you hidden in something that looks like a gift. A Trojan usually
doesn't replicate itself, it will usually look like another program, and may even use the icon for a common application. You may think that you are
starting up an amusing program or a useful application, but while the program is running it's also
doing something to your system in the background.
WORM:
A worm is similar to a virus in that when it is active it will replicate itself, but it does not attach itself to files. Instead it may try to
work through a network (such as the Internet) and attack/infect other computers,
such as by sending itself through email to people in your address book.
All of these things depend on you or your computer executing a program
that you shouldn't. You should learn to be wary of executing programs that
you don't absolutely know are safe, and develop a healthy paranoia about
applications you receive from friends or strangers or from the Internet.
You should also configure your commonly used programs (such as your email
program) so that attachments are never executed automatically. For exam
ple, a recently deployed attack works by convincing you to click on some
thing in the "vcard" attachment of an email message that you might read
using Outlook Express.
Here are some steps to protect yourself.
One method is not to open any file attachment with a .bat, .com, .doc, .exe, .pif
.scr, .vbs, or any extension you are not fimiliar with. It is better to be safe than sorry. You can either
delete the attached file, or save the file to a directory on the hard drive for later anti-virus scanning before
opening.
Some email clients, like Outlook Express, maybe setup to automatically execute embedded
html/scripting code. This can allow malicious code to run automatically. Users can change security settings.
Microsoft offers an Extended E-mail Security patch for Outlook users.
Other than seeing an obvious attachment of a well known viruses like AnnaKournikova.jpg.vbs, or navidad.exe,
users should keep updated anti-virus .dat files.
New virus strains mean new virus signatures and your anti-virus program may not be able to detect them if your
program is not updated regularly. Many anti-virus software manufacturers offer monthly updates.
Here are some online anti-virus and security scans;
Norton's and Mcafee (offer a free trial anti-virus scan).
Here are links to some popular anti-virus application manufacturers to look for updates.
F-secur
Mcafee
Symantec
Thunderbyte
Trend
A problem that occurs from the fear of being infected with a malicious program are virus hoaxes. A lot of users will unknowingly become part of a virus hoax. Too many times many of us have been forwarded
emails from a "verified source at IBM" warning of an email not to download. These types of hoaxes
can be a major annoyance in themselves.
They are designed to cause scares and they also unnecessarily use bandwith,
with the thousands of emails that are circulated. The best thing to remember is not to worry about warning people about
an email virus as much as educating people of how to protect themselves.
Good sites for information on hoaxes can be found on some of these sites.
Hoaxbusters, Hoax warnings,
and Vmyths,
Keeping up to date with true security threats is your best information. Many sites offer information about problems that can be
avoided. Sites that can be helpful are Microsoft Security Bulletin,
CERT, and Fedcirc
To change security settings,
Choose Tools, Options, then Security.
In the Security Settings dialog box, change the option from Enable to Disable for these two settings:
ActiveX Controls and plugins, Script ActiveX controls marked safe for scripting
Scripting, Active Scripting.
To disable HTML in Outlook Express
- Click on Tools
- Click on Options
- Click on the Send tab
- Uncheck the checkbox labelled "Reply to messages using the format in which they were sent"
- Press "P" to set the "Mail Sending Format" radio button to "Plain Text"
- Click the "Plain Text Settings" button.
- Set "Automatically wrap text to [76] characters, when sending"
To disable HTML in Eudora Light
- Click on Tools
- Click on Options
- Click on Sending Mail
- Check "Word wrap"
- Uncheck "May use quoted-printable"
- Uncheck "Use signature"
To disable HTML in Netscape
- Click on Edit
- Click on Preferences
- Under Mail & Newsgroups, click on Formatting
- Check "Use the plain text editor when composing messages"
- Check "Ask me what to do if the message has HTML formatting, otherwise send plain text."
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