The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum - Some info on e-mail, spam, and viruses

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Some info on e-mail, spam, and viruses

Recently, a new virus has been running around the internet that has proven to be quite annoying. It works by getting into a computer and then sending out infected e-mails to addresses that computer's address book. Also, it takes another address from that address book and sticks it into the return address field.

What this means is that if you get a report of an infected e-mail:

1) Delete it, of course, and always have updated anti-virus running.
2) The person it says it came from is NOT the person it came from, but it is someone who has YOU in their address book.
3) If it says it come from a barrowdowns.com address, it probably didn't, BUT it did come from someone who has someone else with a barrowdowns.com address in their address book. (For example, if someone had estelyn@barrowdowns.com in their address book, and that person became infected, their computer might send out infected e-mails to everyone in its address book and falsely list estelyn@barrowdowns.com as the sender. (I personally get several reports a day from e-mail servers saying I sent them an infected e-mail, but they are incorrect because, as I explained, the return address is fake)
4) Thus, if you get an infected e-mail, it's from someone who sends you e-mails, regardless of what the return address says. Contact the people who send you e-mails and tell them to virus check immediately.

Because of all these fake e-mails being sent by the virus, e-mail servers around the world (including barrowdowns.com - because a lot of people have us in their address book) are being barraged by tons of spam, infected e-mails. Delete them all and virus check again!

I hope this explains things to those who are experiencing any problems. I wanted you to rest assured that its not coming from us.

Thanks!

Thanks BW. I got a whole bunch of them, even on that said estelyn@BD, like you mentioned. They all had attached files, and my email said it was infected and had a virus. But I clicked on the first one and now I can't do anything with out getting like 50 pop-ups every 5 minutes. And my email is getting filled up with spam real fast. Oh yeah, and most of them were titled as "Thank You."

Does anyone know what I can do to get rid of it? Yahoo sent me an email explaining something about it, and offered a free virus scan, but I would have to pay remove the stuff. Is there any other alternative, a free one perhaps?

Thanks again.

http://www.free-av.com/ has a completely free anti-virus program.

There is an online scan and repair program available at http://www.pandasoftware.com/actives..._principal.htm , but I cannot comment on its quality (Panda is a respectable company, though).

http://www.safer-networking.org/ has the highly recommendable SpyBot which removes and blocks all spyware or adware.
http://www.kerio.com/kpf_home.html is a free and effective personal firewall recommended by people who know more about such stuff than I do.

[ August 23, 2003: Message edited by: Sharkû ]

I have some free items here that work great.

Items that are essential when using the net are:
• A good Firewall
• A Virus Scan with updates
• Spyware
• Anti spam

Some great free items which I personally use are

Sygate firewall V5, http://www.sygate.ca/

Overview
SyGate Personal Firewall operates as a security agent to enforce rule-based security policy on host devices, whether remote or behind a corporate firewall. As a host-based system, SyGate Firewall enables security policies to be set on a host device according to any combination of:
• Application – allowing each application access privileges to only certain required IP addresses, ports or protocols
• Trusted IP Addresses – allowing access privileges to specific IP addresses
• Ports - allowing access privileges to specific ports
• Protocols - allowing access privileges to specific protocols
• Schedule – allowing automatic implementation of different security policies at different times
This host-based profiling gives SyGate Firewall the ability to not only detect, identify and block known Trojans and Denial of Service attacks, but also protect against new or unknown attacks by blocking applications and traffic that violate a defined profile’s security rules. Port scans are also detected and logged to alert users of potential attacks, while maintaining system security.

AntiVir®
Personal Edition

antiv guard v.6 http://www.free-av.com/
The private and individual use of the AntiVir Personal Edition is completely free of charge!
Even though viruses have now grown very numerous, one thing hasn't changed: our commitment to provide you with all-round protection. The reliability of AntiVir is demonstrated in numerous comparison test and references featured in independent trade journals.

The AntiVir Personal Edition offers the effective protection against computer viruses for the individual and private use on a single PC-workstation. In order to make possible an easy operation, the AntiVir Personal Edition is developed to the essential points.
You'll be amazed how thoroughly AntiVir protects:
• detects and removes more than 70,000 viruses
• always among the winners of comparison test featured in computer journals
• the resident Virus Guard serves to monitor file movements automatically,
e.g. downloading of data from the internet
• scanning and repair of macro viruses
• Protection against previously unknown macro viruses
• easy operation
• Internet-Update Wizard for easy updating
• Protection against previously unknown boot record viruses and master boot record viruses
• Quality "Made in Germany"
• support is free of charge via AntiVir Bulletin Board

and lastly Ad-aware from Lavasoft http://www.lavasoftusa.com

What is Ad-aware?
Ad-aware is THE award winning, multi-trackware detection and removal utility (designed for Windows 98 / 98SE / ME / NT40 / 2000 / XP Home / XP Pro) that will comprehensively scan your memory, registry, hard, removable and optical drives for known Datamining, aggressive advertising, Parasites, Scumware, Keyloggers, selected traditional Trojans, Dialers, Malware, Browser hijackers, and tracking components.

Ad-aware will provide you with the confidence to surf the Internet knowing that your privacy will remain intact.

Lastly the Spam problem This site below has some great advise to stop spam.
The Anti-Spam Home Page http://www.arachnoid.com/lutusp/antispam.html

I got this virus from Tarien (not really from her). If by any chance someone knows how to delete this particular virus could you please PM me, it would be highly appreciated.

Niluial

Just 3 things I'd like to add.

First off, I recommend Zone Labs' free ZoneAlarm firewall. The plus version is only $30 if you're satisfied, and I find the money well spend indeed. It's control's and interface are very easy for even the most basic user, and if you know what you're doing, advanced settings are easily manipulated as well.

2. Don't open Attachments! It's the first and most basic rule of virus protection. Unless you absolutely know that someone you trust sent you it, don't open it.

3. I actually recommend not using Outlook or Outlook Express for any type of e-mail. They're easily manipulated by incoming viruses and M$'s lack of adequetly designing the software is only facilitating the spread. If at all possible use something like Hotmail, which makes you actually select to download attachments, which are then autoscanned if you have an antivirus. It's completely free and comes with more than enough space for most people.

Actually one more thing, use subject lines when sending all of your emails. I know it seems stupid, but it's quite necessary, make them as specific as possible, even adding the date sent. Generally e-mail viruses are preprogrammed with a string of different subject lines, but all are very unspecific. An example is the famous "I love you" bug, and not to mention the aforesaid "Thank You".

Ok, Ok, I lied, I have two more things. If you are using outlook, go to "Tools", "Macro", "Security", and make sure the setting is on "High".

And, finally, make sure you're fully updated All the time. M$ has now made it very easy with automatic update, included in all XP PC's, and even built into Internet Explorer. If you're using IE, go to "Tools" and you'll see "Windows Update". If you're on Dial-up, the updates might take a while (up to a few hours), but it's decidedly worth it. Make sure you do it at least once a week.

Ok, there's my rant for virus protection. Hope you all enjoyed it. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

Quote:

I got this virus from Tarien

From me? Oh, oops! [img]smilies/confused.gif[/img]

Kerio and Sygate are much better than Zonealarm.
Spybot is much more effective than AdAware (granted, the latter is easier to use for novices).

Quote:

Kerio and Sygate are much better than Zonealarm.

Sygate costs, so it's automatically disqualified.

Kerio is a good firewall, better than the regular Zonealarm, but I've found it has a difficulty of use that most novice users can't seem to grasp. I've always recommended Zonealarm, and will continue to do so.

A firewall is only as good as it's settings, and Kerio's are difficult to manipulate by some users.

Plus, TSS recommends ZoneAlarm. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

And in truth, no software firewall is completely safe. If you really want protection, you need a router with built in hardware firewall. These I find to be excellent. As usual, Lynxus makes the best easily.

My aunt recently sent me an email with instructions on how to protect the people in your address book just in case you get a virus:

Quote:

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR ADDRESS BOOK;

I learned a computer trick today that's really ingenious in it's simplicity.
I received it from a friend.

As you may know, when/if a worm virus gets into your computer it heads straight for your e-mail address book, and sends itself to everyone in there, thus infecting all your friends and associates. This trick won't keep the virus from getting into your computer, but it will stop it from using your address book to spread further, and it will alert you to the fact, that the worm has gotten into your system.

Here's what you do; first, open your address book and click on "new contact", Just as you would do if you were adding a new friend to your list of e-mail addresses.

In the window where you would type your friend's first name, type in AAAAAAA, Also use address AAAAAAA@a.aaa

Now, Here's what you've done and why it works: The name AAAAAAA will be placed at the top of your address book as entry #1. This will be where the worm will start in an effort to send itself to all your friends. But, when it tries to send itself to AAAAAAA, it will be undeliverable because of the phony e-mail address you entered.

If the first attempt fails (which it will because of the phony address), the worm goes no further and your friends will not be infected.

Here's the second great advantage of this method: If an e-mail cannot be delivered, you will be notified of this in your IN BOX almost immediately.
Hence, if you ever get an e-mail telling you that an e-mail addressed to AAAAAAA could not be delivered, you know right away that you have the worm virus in your system. You can then take steps to get rid of it! Pretty slick, huh?

I hope this is helpful, just in case something gets sent to you. You can never be too careful! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

This e-mail "fix" seems to be doing the rounds as I was also sent it by a friend.
However, if a virus tried to send itself to this aaa@aaa etc address and failed, it would just go onto the next address in your list. Also most viruses (virii?) don't always go for the first address in your address book, but attack randomly. I think that the e-mail gives, quite dangerous advice; practically asking people to invite virii/trojans/worms onto their computers, thinking that they can't spread.

By the way Sharkû, thank you for the "safe computing" sites you gave us. I use ZoneAlarm (and am happy with it) but I also tried out the Spybot S&D. I unknowingly had 475 adware, tracking and spyware programs. After a clean up my pc is running a lot faster
[img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[ August 27, 2003: Message edited by: Eruanna ]

[ August 27, 2003: Message edited by: Eruanna ]

The emails infected with the SoBig worm usually have one of these subject lines: RE: That Movie RE:Thank You RE:Wicked Screensaver RE:Your Details or RE: Your Application. Never open any of those emails! I've got loads of them(my inbox is full of spam now...), but haven't got the virus because I'd been warned about the subject lines, and also I never open attachments if I don't know what it is.
The worm is supposed to self-destruct on September 10 I think, but there'll probably come another, more aggressive version of it the next day.

And now, on the OTHER side of the sobig storm... is anyone still alive out there?

I was saved by a. not having many online friends (poor me) and b. being away from my computer all summer and passing by the storm unnoticed.

Microsoft.com, I believe the source of all of this (they're the ones that made the shoddy software that made stuff like this possible... or so my geeky computer-friends tell me [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]) and it was there I went to get the patch to stop this ugly thing. I suggest anyone else with continuing problems to do the same. Windows Update is a free service from Microsoft, whereby you can download and install patches to fix the bugs and glitches as they're discovered. Soon as I heard about it I downloaded the patch and I'm all set. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

I can also assist people to get up and running with a firewall if they don't know how--if you have windows ME/XP it's built right in, so PM me and I'll try and show you. Doesn't work if you have a "third-party" net service (AOL, for instance) and a dial-up connection... you'll need to spend money on a "third-party" firewall for that, and unfortunately will cost. But it's worth it.

Good luck.

-'Vana

PS: Umm, duh. Beren already said something about Windows Update. Of course, he being the computer guru...

[ August 31, 2003: Message edited by: DaughterofVana ]

[ August 31, 2003: Message edited by: DaughterofVana ]

Repeat. Windows bad. Unix good. Apple better.