Clicking an unknown link

Tony Palmer · Post by **Tony Palmer** » 11 Jan 2005 12:49 pm

Just how much damage can be done by clicking on a link inserted in an email?
Not downloading an attachment, just going to a linked website.
I received an email that was fairly innocuous in content...selling a memory improvement course or something like that, and the link had a concealed hyperlink in it, as in "click here ".
After I clicked it, I realized it could have been a dummy email having nothing to do with its content and just a guise to get me to click to a particular website...one that I wouldn't have done if it had its real address.
Can a virus be transmitted just by going to a website?

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 11 Jan 2005 1:59 pm

If your running on a PC.
you could lose all your data.
and even your hardware
entailing hours or days of repairs and catching up,
and also loss of critical recent unbacked up information.

Put EVERYONE in your email list at risk of the same.
Your browsing history and credit card transactioons could be at risk, as well as personal financial info etc.

Your could become part of an investigation of cybercrime because your computer was invisibly (to you) slaved by a hacker,
to distribute spam, transmit or store child porn, facilitate denial of service global attacks AND international cyber war from terrorsits....

You could be blamed for their actions, at least till proved innocent...

If you clicked on a link it could cause transmision of a tiny file that potentially could take control of your computer and do any of the above.

[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 11 January 2005 at 02:06 PM.]

Olli Haavisto · Post by **Olli Haavisto** » 11 Jan 2005 2:43 pm

And what`s the bad news, David ?

------------------
Olli Haavisto
Polar steeler
Finland
oharvester@hotmail.com

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 11 Jan 2005 2:46 pm

Yes, it's very dangerous. Don't do it.

Ray Minich · Post by **Ray Minich** » 11 Jan 2005 2:50 pm

About the same risk of damage as sticking your finger into a wall socket. Ask yourself... "Do you feel lucky today?"

Tony Palmer · Post by **Tony Palmer** » 11 Jan 2005 7:24 pm

Ohhhh.......

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 12 Jan 2005 2:49 am

I NEVER go online with anything BUT a MAC.

Unless in a cyber cafe and there is no choice.[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 13 January 2005 at 08:09 AM.]

Joey Ace · Post by **Joey Ace** » 12 Jan 2005 7:18 am

I don't click on unknown email links, but the same link could be posted here, or at another trusted site, by someone who didn't know it was dangerous. It could be found thru a ligit Search Engine, or many other ways.

The fiends making these viri are constantly thinking of ways to trick us. You can't outsmart them forever.

The advice, "Never Click On Unknown Links" is similar to "Never Talk To Strangers".

Everyone was a stranger at one time.
Only b0b would be at this Forum if we never tried the link to it.

The only solution is:
Have reliable Anti-Virus software, and keep it up to date.

If you don't have the technical skills to do this, pay someone to install and set it up.

That will be a lot cheaper than paying that same person to rebuild your system later.
(and you won't have lost data)

[This message was edited by Joey Ace on 12 January 2005 at 07:19 AM.]

Gary Ulinskas · Post by **Gary Ulinskas** » 12 Jan 2005 7:33 pm

For David L. Donald:
David,
Did you mean to post that you would never go online with anything BUT a MAC? My daughter is a MAC fan and says that they are good for web surfing because there are so relatively few of them that virus writers don't think MACs are worth the effort of writing a virus for.

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 12 Jan 2005 11:45 pm

The reason I don't click on links in anonymous emails is this:

Many emails are written in HTML. The HTML is constructed in such a way as to inform the web site of your email address when you click on the link. In other words, they know they have a "live one" in their database as soon as you click it.

This generates more spam. Also, many of those sites install spyware. think about it. Someone who thinks nothing of spamming to begin with wants you to visit their web site. I can't think of anything they could possibly put in an email that would entice me to click through.

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 13 Jan 2005 8:18 am

Gary, yes thanks I corrected it.
again striks Dyslexia .

Also to your daughters comments :
Microsoft as proved more interested in meeting sales target dates,
than to trouble shoot their "OS upgrades".

They add features and it is amazing how fast hackers find wholes to march through them.

Partly it is the arogance of Micorsoft that incites the hackers, and partly the chalange, to find the next stupid mistake Micorsoft fails to check for.
The Micorsoft internal culture and it's sense of hubris of market share, alow it to imagine it is invulnerable in the market, so we just meet target dates and fix it later.

If the governments went after them for building faulty products that caused wide spread losses of productivity because of security incompetances, then maybe they would do more than just shunt out the next ittereartion and then weekly security patches....

Also the latest Windows is still based on a cobbled together legacy OS, Even XP being a decendant of Win 2K still has nmany legacy curses from the pre win 2k days.

Why is it that Linnux and Mac, and a few others have no problem keeping their OS's relatively parasite free,
but WIndows machines AND Windows servers are regularly tricked and run amuk... hmm?
[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 13 January 2005 at 08:21 AM.]