UPS email

[jimbairn]

I've just had an email with an attachment, supposedly from UPS, about a parcel I'm supposed to have sent on Sept 18th.

I take it it would be A Very Bad Idea to open the attachment...?

 

[Idea15]

Yes. I've "missed" parcels from UPS, Fedex, and the US Postal Service this month; and I've also received e-ticket confirmations from at least four airlines.

 

[Brian McIntosh]

Not forgetting invoices for items I have bought, court orders against me, yada, yada, yada.

 

[Former Member 1]

I've just had an email with an attachment, supposedly from UPS, about a parcel I'm supposed to have sent on Sept 18th.

I take it it would be A Very Bad Idea to open the attachment...?

Probably one of the worst ideas you could have.....

Classic Trojan or so I'm told. One thing's for sure I know what I've sent out and I know what I've ordered and none of it's vy UPS...

My Yahoo mail account has 'captured' about five of these in the spam box over the past week or so...:thumbdown:

 

[stugster]

This is a recent attempt at compromising the recipient's computer.
The e-mails range from notices from your bank to visit their site immediately to attachments from companies like UPS telling you that your recent parcel wasn't sent, and you should open up the file attachment.

I have a computer in today that has been infected with this kind of virus. The client had an e-mail message about their holiday being cancelled, and they were instructed to fill out the form attached to re-schedule the holiday. Unfortunately, it just so happened that the company that was in the "from" address was actually the company they used to book their holiday, and they actually do have a holiday booked for the end of October.

I like to view the virus to see what exactly they do when executed. The holiday one actually installs a mail server on the recipients computer and continually sends out the exact same e-mail (from the recipients IP address!) to even more poor punters.

Very slowly, there are new technologies coming out that are intended to prevent illicit e-mail messages being sent, and better technologies for detecting fraudulent ones. Until they're perfected though, the best way to stay secure is only to ever upload files that you know and trust!

Remember: Anything ending in .exe is an executable file!
Remember: If you have an anti-virus installed, make use of it! Don't assume that it'll pop up warning you all the time. If you have an inconspicuous file, right click on it and tell your Anti-Virus to scan it!

 

[jimbairn]

Can any of you IT bods clear something up for me?

Is it true that these viruses won't affect Macintosh computers?

 

[stugster]

It is true that the majority of viruses received are for windows computers. To my knowledge, .exe files only work on windows machines, and Mac OS machines wont be affected. The reason for the majority of viruses targetting windows is that the majority of users are on Windows based operating systems.

This majority is slowly changing, with more and more users opting for Apple based systems, or Linux based (Ubuntu, openSuse, etc.).

Viruses do exist for all different kinds of operating systems, but at the moment, most of the ones going around are for Windows. But, don't take that as a reason not to stay secure! Ensure your computer has up to date security patches, a good firewall (hardware and software preferably) and an up to date and working anti virus.

Always regularly scan your computer for viruses, as well as ad-ware, spyware, and any other malware!