Important Virus Info

[eric]

Friends,

If you recieve any e-mail from Pay-Pal, DO NOT OPEN IT UNTIL YOU READ THIS FIRST!!!!!!!!!!

There is a new virus disguised as a Pay-Pal account renew notice.
This is a new generation virus not designed to cause damage but rather to steal personal information. Please read the following iinformation:

http://www3.ca.com/virusinfo/virus.aspx?ID=37596

It is a little technical, if anyone needs help or thinks they have been infected please do not hesitate to post a reply or PM me personally, so I can give you a hand.

Remember to update your virus protection product REGULARLY !!!!.

 

[janeeng]

eric,

Thanks for that! I did read that on Yahoo!!! I do have paypal and of course go on Ebay, I have seen some of this recently, the virus's - and Ebay has someone that has been sending out emails claiming that they need updated information - leave it to my dumb Husband to reply and give out ALL information - even though Ebay tells you it will NEVER ask for passwords and User Id's, but, some just don't read and give it out. Had to immediately go in and change EVERYTHING!!!!

 

[eric]

General rules of thumb to use with personal information online:

1.> Many sites require demographical information to access their content, get yourself a free e-mail account (yahoo, hotmail, etc), use this email account for registration. This way when too much junk mail comes you just close the current account and start a new one. You do not have to provide any of your REAL information for registration purposes, unless it is a government agency.

2.> Do not submit information to a person/company that you do not know.

3.> Provide the necessary information only. Most forms will have a mark next to the information that is essential (many times and asterisk).

4.> NEVER provide financial information (bank account, credit card, etc) unless you have a secured connection to the company's server. Verifing this is different for each browser, if you are using Internet Explorer look toward the bottom on the status bar for a Lock symbol, if you place your mouse over it, you should get a message similar to SSL Secured (128 bit). If you do not see this symbol your data can be seen by anyone between you and the company that you are giving the information to. Also if you see a number less the 128, you should go to microsoft and download the high encryption pakage for your version of windows.

5.> NEVER submit any personal information thru email.

6.> If you run software such as online banking, allways install the software from a CD, not from a web download.

7.> Companies will not email you software, with which you can submit personal information, rather they will direct you to their web page. Do not even try to install the attached software!

If a legitimate comany should start this practice, I still would not use this method, it breaks every security rule in the book.

8.> BE CAREFUL of email directing you to a company site to enter personal information. It is very easy for someone to make a phony site look very much like the real one, and send you an email with a link to the phony site, where they will grab your info.

Better than following a link, is to type the web address for the company into the address bar of your browser, and then follow the links on their site. If you must click a link in email, inspect the web page carefully, and look in the address bar to make sure the address starts with the company's web address.

Example : www.microsoft.com

Hope this helps !

 

[janeeng]

Maybe I should print this out and tell my Husband to take it to work and read CAREFULLY! Maybe then I won't have to go crazy changing things!!!!

 

[jimnyc]

I use Norton Antivirus 2003 which automatically updates itself when new files are released. I also use mailwasher to preview all my mail while it resides on my providers server. Any spam or mail that is suspect gets easily deleted before even coming near my machine. The free version works great if anyone is interested!

http://www.mailwasher.net

A good provider should be running virus scan on all incoming mail anyway - but you can never be safe enough.

 

[janeeng]

If this too can only be used, I have mailwasher, but some just refuse to use it!!!! I also have the Norton Professional Virus protector, which I got for FREE, thanks Kazaa!!!!!!! and this too updates itself!

 

[janeeng]

BTW - the virus protector worked pretty good today, tried to find a fatty chick for Jackass and guess the page I went to wanted to send a virus and caught 2 of them and gone.

 

[jimnyc]

Janeen - your problem is that you never close your mail program and you leave it set to automatically download new mail!! Turn it off when not using it and always use mailwasher before checking your email.

 

[janeeng]

Well, this is somewhat true! Like I said, the Husband is the one that will never open mailwasher, it's right to email and leaves it. I use it everytime I turn on computer.