Klarinet Archive - Posting 000211.txt from 2004/03

From: "Ken Wolman" <kwolman@------.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Virus
Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 08:50:13 -0500

Erik Tkal wrote:

> The OS-specific viruses are usually executables only, which in most
> cases require manual execution of an attachment - in that case you are
> correct in that the email program is irrelevant, but these spread slower
> because most (I hope) people won't just run an arbitrary program that
> someone sent them.

Serious this time, no cats or reproducing bass violins.

I won't say "most" computer users because I don't know numbers. But
there probably are too many users out there who will behave like one of
Pavlov's pups (I didn't say anything about dogs, just cats). "Oooo, an
attachment, I must open it, it must be important." Crash.

Rule One: If you don't know the sender don't open the attachment. There
is no Rule Two.

It isn't just attachments. The entire online culture is being assaulted
by scam artists. PayPal scams (got one of them), eBay scams perhaps, we
know about the Nigerian scams which seem to go on and on anyway. A few
weeks ago, on a Sunday, I received email with the logo of USBank. It
said my account had been suspended because it had been "compromised by
an intruder." Well, that fascinated me because I don't happen to have
an account with USBank. So I detached a bit. There were instructions
on a website on how to restore my bank account. Yes, I went to the URL.
What they wanted me to do was send them the number of my ATM card, my
PIN, and the three-digit verification number on the strip along the back.

I suppose if I still had a wife they'd also want to sleep with her.

I ran a search through Yahoo! Business on USBank and got a contact name.
I forwarded the contact person the mail I'd received. Two hours
later, a Sunday remember, she wrote back and said she was turning it
over to the Security Department, that there was a lot of this going on,
and not just with USBank.

Now figure...I got scattergunned. But how many people with USBank
accounts DID send that stuff to whoever asked for it, simply because the
mail looked official and because they got scared that they'd been
hacked. Some people are losing their shirts because they believe that
(metaphorically) if you're wearing a uniform (i.e., a corporate logo)
you're a good guy, and that--as we learned in 4th grade--"the policeman
is your friend."

Ken