Don’t Open That Email!
Since the dawn of the internet there have been people writing malicious programs intent on ruining your computing experience.
In the beginning viruses were like teenagers spray-painting walls. They seemed to arise out of boredom and had no other purpose than to bother you. For the most part these early viruses were pretty easy to get rid of.
As time went on and the internet became more popular the people writing the malicious code had only one thing in mind, using their programs to steal your money.
Recently I read that creating spyware, viruses and trojans is a very profitable business. Seven billion dollars a year is stolen from people like you and me by people who can’t seem to make a living any other way. They certainly aren’t making a positive impact in the world in which they live.
Emailing their destructive code has been their method of choice for several years. They figure, all they have to do is get you to open your email and they win. How much easier is it for them now that they’re able to spoof their email address so it looks like it’s coming from a Fortune 500 company.
In the past couple weeks there have been two very large companies who have put out warnings to not open email from them. First there was UPS who put out the following warning:
We have become aware there is a fraudulent e-mail being sent that says it is coming from UPS and leads the reader to believe that a UPS shipment could not be delivered. The reader is advised to open an attachment reportedly containing a waybill for the shipment to be picked up. This e-mail attachment contains a virus. We recommend that you do not open the attachment, but delete the e-mail immediately.
And just yesterday Northwest Airlines issued the following warning:
Northwest Airlines on Friday warned e-mail users to watch out for phony messages using the company’s name that may be infected with a computer virus. The Eagan-based carrier said the e-mails contain fake ticket confirmation and enrollment information and infect the user’s computer when attachments are opened. The e-mails thank the recipient for using the new service “Buy flight ticket Online” on the airline’s Web site. It states an account has been set up and gives the e-mail user an account number and password.
For a long time email users have been warned about opening email attachments. The first virus I ever encountered was from a friend who emailed me a cool video. I thought it was so cool I forwarded it to my parents. Unfortunately we all got infected with a computer virus… Thankfully it was pretty easy to rid our computers of it and we all learned a valuable lesson.
Unfortunately, people are still learning this same lesson every day and are more likely to have lost some money in the process.
Thankfully, there are some pretty simple ways you can protect yourself.
1. Install antivirus software that checks your email if you use an email client like Microsoft Outlook. A very good free antivirus program that does this is AVG. If you’d rather pay for antivirus software, use Eset’s Nod32. Most of the major web based email portals like Gmail and Yahoo mail have antivirus software on their server that checks attachments.
2. Delete email from anyone you don’t know or the subject line seems strange. Don’t even open the email message.
3. Even if an email message appears to come from someone you know or a business be skeptical of it and don’t click any links or open any attachments unless you’re absolutely sure it’s legitimate.
Sorry that I haven’t had a chance to write in a while. I live in a place where you only have a few months to enjoy the nice weather outside :).
Happy computing!
-Bert
