warning - please read - another possible virus . . .

[onlymel]

Hi all, - I logged onto outlook express this morning to check my e-mails and noticed a one that was sent by microsoft inviting me to download the very latest patch to stop yet another virus. I was JUST ABOUT TO ACTION THIS and thought, "Hey just a mo, Microsoft wouldn't just e-mail me. Surely they would have to mail millions of others. Why would they single out me"?

It did look soooooooooooo official but I guess it is another way of circulating a virus. ITS NOW IN THE TRASH and I didnt open it.

It will be interesting to know if any other tek-tips members get this in the mail.

Mel in the UK

 

[pmonett]

I did not receive it, but I did hear about it.
If I did receive it, I would never open it. I know that any serious company cannot possibly even dream of sending patches through email. All of the ones I know (Symantec, MS, Tiny Corp., etc..) ALWAYS direct you to their web site.
So I would have trashed that mail without even thinking about it.

And, while I'm on a run here, I'd like to add that I am very suspicious about ANY mail that does one or more of the following :

1) claims to have found out about a brand new virus that NOBODY knows about yet (oh yeah, and how'd you find out then? Did YOU write it ?)
2) claims to have checked it out with Microsoft/Symantec/whatever and gotten confirmation (but I thought you said NOBODY knows)
2) asks you to send this to EVERYONE you know (that does it - I'm clicking Delete already)

It is absolutely mind-boggling that so many stupid, idiotic mails labelled as WARNINGS or CRITICAL UPDATES still crawl the pipes. Unfortunately, I am much less surprised that there are so many morons to actually believe them. Am I losing faith in humanity ? You bet.
Thankfully I have my own, personal mail server, and I don't use Outlook either.

Pascal.

 

[ChrisRAnthony]

In general Microsoft do not e-mail to individuals with any kind of updates. I am always highly suspicious of any mails that claim to come direct from Microsoft!!

 

[ansonng]

Well Microsoft has repeteadly stated in their windows update page that they will never email any single users about any security issue, and will never send any patch via email. So if you do get any email from Microsoft or even Symantec with an attached executables, I will put all my money in and say it's virus/trojan horse.

 

[GreatSeaSpider]

It pays to keep an eye on symantec's site to keep ahead of new viruses. The virus mel encountered was probably this one:

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.swen.a@mm.html

Pete

 

[manarth]

I was most amused to find the 'Critical Update - Apply this patch' email sitting in my Hotmail account.
In the Junk Mail folder!

<marc> i wonder what will happen if i press this...[ul][li]please give feedback on what works / what doesn't[/li][li]need some help? how to get a better answer: faq581-3339[/li][/ul]