Too Good To Be TrueThousands of users today are receiving email that purports to have attachments of naked celebrities, files you might not remember that you "requested", or other documents or pictures that might be somewhat revealing or "special". In reality, what you have gotten is malware, software designed to do something nasty to your computer. Messages like this, including "Osama Bin Ladin Found Hanged", "Beckham With Spanish Hooker" and "George Bush Commits Suicide", are attempts to trick you into letting the bad guys gain access to your computer. In fact, some malware appears to be security fixes. Don't believe it unless you confirm it yourself through the vendor that allegedly sent you the email. For example, ignore security update e-mails from Microsoft warnings that spyware has been detected on your computer or telling you that you have serious security holes. These are actually from bad guys and again the purpose is to get you to open the message attachment or visit the web page. Microsoft has a special website, http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com, where you can check your system for the latest Windows patches. Some virus-writers create Web sites that look like valid vendor sites, but are not. They are the launching pads for various kinds of programs that can damage your computer, steal your private information, and generally make your life a pain. The reason for the chicanery is that while it is generally safe to read a text e-mail message or a subject line in a newsgroup, opening an attachment or visiting a referenced web page isn't. Net newts use all kinds of ruses to get you to open the deadly attachment or visit their booby-trapped web page. Be suspicious of all e-mail with attachments. If the message with the attachment is obviously spam, dump it immediately. Even if the e-mail is from someone you know, be suspicious if the attachment wasn't expected or if the subject line is very general, such as "you gotta see this" or "about what we were talking about". It doesn't hurt to send a query to the sender to double check on the message. Also, be suspicious if there are obvious misspellings in the subject line. This suspicion should extend even to .txt and .gif files. Although a .txt (pure text) file is generally safe, there is a technique called "double extension" that fools you into thinking a file is harmless. Remember, it is possible to have a filename that reads "coolpix.txt.exe". You might only see coolpix.txt, thinking it's a text file, but that hidden .exe extension means it's probably malware. Paranoia alone isn't enough. You need to keep the security patches on your operating system up to date. You can do this automatically with software such as the automatic update utility found in Microsoft XP or a program like Bigfix. Of course your anti-virus protection should be up to date as well. Updating your antivirus software daily isn't compulsive, it's required! Beyond that you need to use antispyware and a software firewall to further ensure that your system is protected.
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