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Recent Email Virus Information |
The outbreak of recent viruses such as MyDoom, Bagel, and NetSky have caused a lot of questions. This knowledgebase article will hopefully dispel the myths and help to answer your questions about recent viruses:
- If you get an email (from CleanSurf or somewhere else) telling you that you sent a virus it does NOT necessarily mean that you are infected with a virus. Recent viruses utilize the infected individual's address book not only to propagate themselves, but also to mask the true infected person's identity. Consider the following scenario:
- Person A gets infected with a virus
- The virus goes into his address book and finds email addresses for person B and person C.
- The virus then sends an email "from" person B to to person "C". They can do this by simply impersonating person B's email address. Please note that this does not mean that the virus has access to person B's email. This is analogous to sending a letter to someone, but impersonating someone else by putting their return address on the envelope rather than your own.
- Person C (or their ISP) may send a reply to person B letting them know that a virus was received from their email address. However, in fact, person B is not infected at all, person A is.
If you receive such a warning, you may be person B in the above scenario. Make any necessary steps to ensure that you are not infected with any viruses, but do not be offended, as you may not really, in fact, be infected with the virus at all.
- Another key thing to remember about virus-infected emails is that they play off of your emotions in an effort to "trick" you into opening the attachment that contains the virus. Recent viruses (especially Bagel) warn you that your email account is about to be shut down, and that further information can be found in the attached file. Do not be hasty to open attachments, especially ones containing the file extensions below:
- CleanSurf offers virus protected email accounts that block all incoming viruses, reducing your suceptibility to viruses almost completely. If you are not a CleanSurf customers, click here to sign up for a free 7 day trial of our filtered email service.
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