I have just received word that there is an e-mail message being sent to some people supposedly under my name that contains a questionnaire. I want to warn everyone here that I have sent no such e-mail out and if you have received such an e-mail don't open it. Who knows what sort of virus it might contain.
but as a rule never open any e.mail with an attachment or from an unknown. I believe yours had an attachment.
Joe.
When the Klez virus infects a computer, it is capable of resending itself and using any address in the infected computer's address book as the "from" address. Someone with a lot of well-known advantage players in their address book has been infected.
I have gotten ones that appeared to be from bj21.com, rge21.com, as well as several well-known posters on these boards. None were actually from the address in the "from" line.
I have gotten a few irate e-mails myself from people accusing me of sending them a virus. Since I use a non-windows system for all my e-mail, it is not possible that it came from my computer.
The easiest way to spot these is the size - usually around 130 KB, much larger than the typical e-mail. There is usually little or no text in the message.
If you look at the message path (click on "display all headers") you can usually see that it did not originate from the "from" address.
But if you're going to play around with one of these, be careful! Probably best just to delete it.
Never open any attachment, even if it appears to be from someone you know, unless you have specifically asked that person to send you something.
I think Outlook Express singlehandedly accounts for more than 90% of virus distribution around the world. If anyone uses it, download the security patches from MS and dont open any suspect attachments.
There is a free email service available on the net which allows anybody to send email seeming to come from any address. They can put ANY text in the From line.
Here are two excerpts from the GhostMail web site:
Introduction
GhostMail lets you send anonymous e-mail. For most uses, GhostMail will effectively prevent the recipient from tracing the source of the message. Even for technically savvy users, tracing can be difficult or impossible. However, GhostMail does not guarantee anonymity--it is possible for law enforcement organizations, among others, to trace mail sent from GhostSurf. This is by design--you should not be able to use GhostMail to abuse others or break the law. To learn more about GhostMail's anonymity, please read the anonymous e-mail article.
Sending a Message
To send an e-mail using GhostMail, first enter the From address in the appropriate box. You can enter any e-mail address in this box, valid or otherwise. The mail that GhostMail sends will have this address as the originating e-mail address.
The To, Cc and Bcc boxes work as they do in any e-mail program; you can enter the recipient, carbon-copy and blind carbon-copy addresses respectively. You may enter more than one e-mail address, separated by commas.
Finally, you may enter the subject of the message and the body in the last two boxes. When you're ready to send the message, click the "Send..." button.
Personally, what with all the security issues, I do not understand why anyone would continue to use Outlook Express as their e-mail client.
There are several excellent alternatives, many of which are free.
I also received what appeared to be a fake email from StanfWong@bj21.com. It had an exe attachment, with the caption "Info you requested from MyFamily.Com.Bat"
Personally, what with all the security issues, I do not understand why anyone would continue to use Outlook Express as their e-mail client.
Because it comes with Windows and Office. Its the hugely successful Msoft marketing strategy - use your popular products to market your other products. And besides the security issues, its a nice program. Most people dont understand security anyway, virus infection for them is just some magical thing that happens, like a witch curse :-)
