Virus Warning - Bob Hoffnar

Walter Stettner · Post by **Walter Stettner** » 29 May 2004 2:27 pm

Dear Friends,

Just wanted to let you know that I just received an e-mail from

bobhoffnar@earthlink.net

This was a virus message with the short text "read it immediately" and an attachment. I checked Bob's profile - he has a different e-mail address. I deleted the message immediately, this is a typical virus message.

Please be very careful when receiving messages from fellow forumites with strange subject lines, senseless short text and attachments! Names of forumites may be used to spread viruses!!! Even a message by Buddy Emmons might contain a virus!

Kind Regards, Walter
www.austriansteelguitar.at.tf

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[This message was edited by Walter Stettner on 29 May 2004 at 03:28 PM.]

Bill Ford · Post by **Bill Ford** » 29 May 2004 4:46 pm

I got a new one the other day, a notice that a virus was sent from me to an address I did not recognise, the email said that semantics cought it. I also did a system scan and it showed no virus.What is this about?

Bill

Walter Stettner · Post by **Walter Stettner** » 30 May 2004 12:24 am

Bill,

That's another trick used very often. You will receive a notification that a message from was rejected and returned because it contained a virus. The message you sent is in the attachment. DON'T OPEN IT - this IS the virus!!!

Another trick: A notification saying "mail delivery failed". Same thing, there is an attachment and a virus in it.

Best advise: Delete every message with strange or unknown sender and no or very confusing subject lines ("Hi", "read it immediately", "something for you" etc.)
Never open attachments of those messages.

It's sad that we have come that far, but obviously that's the only way to protect your computer and avoid damages, loss of data and money.

Kind Regards, Walter
www.austriansteelguitar.at.tf

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Bill Ford · Post by **Bill Ford** » 30 May 2004 5:46 am

Thanks Walter,
A firm rule, deleat all unknown emails, I opened and read this one, no att. was in it, would not have opened if there had been. I have been bitten once, somehow Norton got turned off, cost a lot of headaches and a new hard drive.

Bill

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 30 May 2004 6:43 am

I go one step farther. My dearest Aunt Ellen is a total computer illiterate. In fact she doesn't even have a computer---WebTV. Her kids (my dearest cousins) set her up with this rig and got her hooked up onto some mailing lists and next thing I know, I'm getting emails from her four times a week with attachments inside attachments inside attachments of general stuff ranging from "cute" to politically incendiary--sometimes even diametrically opposite of her politics--in other words she doens't even read half this crap herself. What a waste of bandwidth!
But the point is that dearest Auntie wouldn't know a computer virus from a herpes sore. Her mailings get deleted almost before they hit my computer. The worry of "but what if it's important?" or "what about her feelings?" measures considerably less than safe computing common sense.

Ernie Renn · Post by **Ernie Renn** » 30 May 2004 7:05 am

As of yesterday, Buddy's mail had no viruses attached to them.

(Thought you might like to know...)

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My best,
Ernie

www.buddyemmons.com

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 30 May 2004 7:46 am

I just ran a virus check and I'm showing all clear.

Walter, A weird thing is that you are not in my address book. You got an e mail from my main account so I don't know how it happened.

I used symantic for my virus check.
Is there some other way to check if there is a virus in my mail ? I use a mac with osX.

Bob

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 30 May 2004 8:07 am

The computer that is infected has both of you in its address book. I get about 20 of these a day because my email address is in everyone's address book.

Just delete it and move on. I don't even bother opening emails with attachments. I delete them without even looking at them, unless I'm in the middle of an ongoing conversation with the sender. To me, the "paper clip" icon means "delete immediately".

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<img align=left src="http://picturehost.net/b0b/ManzBob2.jpg" border="0"> Bobby Lee
-b0b- quasar@b0b.com 
System Administrator

Walter Stettner · Post by **Walter Stettner** » 30 May 2004 11:56 am

Bob,

No need to worry, I know you didn't send the message, it didn't come from your e-mail address, it just used your name in connection with a different provider from yours. That can happen to everybody (incl. me!)

Ernie, I just used Buddy's name as an example what might happen. Somehow his name might also appear on an address line.

I just wanted to point out that it's more dangerous to overlook those things if you see a name in the address like you are familiar with.

The best thing to do is shut down those damn computers, sit behind your steel and practice. That's the nicest virus I can think of!

Kind Regards, Walter
www.austriansteelguitar.at.tf

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Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 31 May 2004 11:02 am

Bob,
Does that explain why I get E mails returned as undeliverable from addresses that I have nothing to do with ?

Bob

Walter Stettner · Post by **Walter Stettner** » 31 May 2004 11:35 am

I don't think so. The fake return message is just another trick they play on you. It's a regular message with the header line "mail delivery failure" (or something similar) that wants to raise your attention towards the attachement and open it (which is B,&%§"=/t because if you get a return message notification from someone, it is just information about the status of the message, there are no attachments!!!)

Just for the interested computer experts: I had another trick played on me today:

I received a message from somebody unknown to me with a little statement saying "please put a link to my website on your site". No further detail, just a weird looking web address and the invitation to check it out. I deleted the whole thing immediately, I bet clicking on the website address line would have gotten me in trouble!

Kind Regards, Walter
www.austriansteelguitar.at.tf

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Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 31 May 2004 1:41 pm

So far I'm pretty sure there is nothing wrong with my E mail. No one that is actually in my address book has gotten anything weird from me.

Bob

CrowBear Schmitt · Post by **CrowBear Schmitt** » 31 May 2004 11:50 pm

Naw ! Bob ain't weird, he's just a Fo'Bro'

Donna Dodd · Post by **Donna Dodd** » 1 Jun 2004 12:56 am

The April edition of PC Magazine named www.trendmicro.com one of their top 100 classic sites on the Web.

At Trend Micro, virus experts keep you up to date on the latest threats - also provide fixes. You can click on the interactive virus map to find out how and where viruses have been spreading in the past day, week, and month.

Others to check out:
www.cert.org www.getnetwise.org www.grc.com www.netcraft.com www.securityfocus.com
<a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/3/3_3_7.gif' border=0></a>

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 1 Jun 2004 7:16 am

Does that explain why I get E mails returned as undeliverable from addresses that I have nothing to do with ?

Yes, it does. The virus was sent out to an old address from someone's address book, with you as the return address. The notification that it's undeliverable came back to you instead of to the infectee.

You see, it's very easy for a virus to lie in an email header. It's like if you wrote a letter to me at my old address in Santa Rosa, and put Walter's return address on it. The post office would return it to Walter, and he'd scratch his head and say "What's this?". He might even open it.

It would take the involvement of the FBI to trace that letter back to its origin. What a nuisance! Better to just toss it in the trash.

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<img align=right src="http://b0b.com/Hotb0b.gif" width="96 height="96">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs, Open Hearts
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (Emaj9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (C6add9),
Sierra Laptop 8 (E6add9), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6),
Roland Handsonic, Line 6 Variax

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 1 Jun 2004 2:44 pm

Bob,
Thanks for the info.