UPS question

[Ken Lang]

I got a message, supposedly from UPS, that they had tried to leave something here on Sat. but no one was home. It gave a tracking no. and said we need to pick it up. The number was nothing I have on order.

It was from UPS quantum view. I assume it's a scam thing. It happened once before and to my wife too. We delete it, but I wondered if anyone else has got it, and what the purpose of it might be?

[Wiz Feinberg]

Ken;
The only valid notification for residential delivery failures from UPS is a sticky note on your front door, left by the driver himself.

If the message you are referring to came via email, and you clicked on one of the links, or on an attached file, and you used a browser with JavaScript and Java enabled, chances are 90% that your computer has been hacked and a backdoor installed. These UPS/USPS/FedEx/Postal Express/DHL failed delivery email notices have links to, or attachments containing the Blackhole exploit kit. It uses JavaScript to load a hostile Java Applet into your browser. Once this happens, if Java is installed and the Java browser plug-in is enabled, exploit codes run.

Do NOT do any online banking or use PayPal, eBay, your website's control panel, or login to Facebook, Twitter, etc, until the PC has either been disinfected, or Windows has been reinstalled, or it has been proven to have not been infected at all.

[Ken Lang]

Wiz. I don't recall clicking any links and I deleted Java, however it wouldn't hurt to check. How do I see if I have been compromised?

[Wiz Feinberg]

Wiz. I don't recall clicking any links and I deleted Java, however it wouldn't hurt to check. How do I see if I have been compromised?

If you deleted the email without clicking on any links, or opening any attachments, you should be fine (in this case).

As for seeing if you're computer is compromised from other threats, your anti-virus/malware programs are responsible for monitoring what gets opened, run, or installed and alerting you to anything they deem suspicious, or know to be dangerous.

That said, unless you are using a security program that uses a combination of onboard and cloud security checks, new, or altered threats could sneak past its defenses. Furthermore, if your security program is freeware, expect less frequent updating of its definitions, both onboard and cloud based.

Some of the top tier security programs will also hook into your browsers and block access to and loading of suspicious, or known hostile pages. Trend Micro does this quite effectively. It also provides a means of ignoring the blocks and continuing at one's own risk.

[Wiz Feinberg]

I should point out that I have seen some email scams in the past that actually embedded attack codes into the message body, in the HTML portion (invisible to you). I had to create a special filter for MailWasher Pro users to detect and block these instant threats. If one opened such a message, or allowed for previewing of messages in one's inbox (in POP3 email clients), and if one had less than the strongest security settings for their email client, the exploit code could run on its own.

Such scripted exploits target Windows computers, running Microsoft email clients. This is because Microsoft's email clients (Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail) utilize Internet Explorer's rendering engine to display HTML content in email messages.

[Ken Lang]

I should be OK then. Thanks Wiz. By the way, I have deleted my Web site you worked so hard on. They want too much to continue, and at 71, it's time.