Well we just got another virus attack that seemed to infect a lot of folks out there in cyberspace. How do these things continue to go on? Of course, most techies want to blame the "users." But there is also the fact that virus programmers are getting smarter. The Mydoom virus took advantage of social engineering, figuring that people who got a very tech-laden email would trust it more than the tired "Hi here's the information you requested" approach.
What can you do to avoid these viruses? We all know by now that one of the first pieces of advice is to avoid opening attachments from people you don't know. This has gotten more difficult because virus programmers, using a technique known as "spoofing," can make emails appear that they are coming from just about anyone out there - including you and me.
Spoofing has led to another confusing issue - an "undeliverable" notification for an email you never sent. What happens is that a virus (or sometimes a spammer) sends out an email, and fakes the "from" address to be yours. Oftentimes, these messages are sent to non-existent email addresses. Somewhere in cyberspace, an automated administrator figures out that the recipient doesn't exist, so it politely informs the sender of such. Unfortunately, the administrator has been fooled into thinking you sent it and voila; you get a notification saying that an email you never sent could not be delivered.
My recommendation is to be wary of any unexpected attachments you get from anyone. You can quickly and easily check if the message contains a virus by visiting one of the 2 websites,
McAfee, or
Symantec. Both of these sites provide the latest virus alerts and advisories, however, I like the McAfee site better because it's easier to navigate, and the search function is on the same page. Symantec has a
separate search page. Simply enter either the text of the message you have received, or the name of the attachment, and if it's a virus, you will know it in a matter of seconds.
By now everyone knows that every PC must be equipped with virus protection software. What a lot of people seem to miss, however, is that you must ensure that your virus definition files are updated regularly. Most anti-virus packages out there have an automatic update feature enabled by default. This ensures that you get the latest virus definition files every time you log on to the Internet.
Of course, you must pay to keep your anti-virus software updated. Most annual subscriptions are less than $50, or about $4 per month. Needless to say, this is a tremendous investment. Once you have installed the software (on most PC's it comes pre-installed), you can buy your updates on-line with a credit card.
Speaking of viruses and using your credit card on-line, there is a relatively new scam out there that is pretty clever. Technically speaking, this is not really a virus, but it comes in an email with a link. The email says that you need to update your credit card and PIN, for some innocuous reason, like their system just got reconfigured and they lost all their data. If you click on the link, it opens the official credit card website, such as
www.visa.com, and pops up another box that has similar characteristics of the official site. This pop-up window asks you for your credit card number, expiration date, and PIN. Of course, the pop-up window is not part of the official site, and instead is relaying this information to some nefarious character.
This scam takes advantage of a flaw in Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Microsoft has since issued a patch to prevent this from happening. The moral of this tale is, in addition to making sure your virus definition files are up to date, you also have to run Windows Update to make sure you have the latest, most secure versions of Microsoft software. Windows Update is available on every version of Windows since 98. If you are on earlier version than 98, it's time to upgrade!
Windows Update has a feature called Critical Update, which notifies you any time an important update is available for your operating system or Microsoft software. By default, Critical Update is enabled. There is no need for you to turn this off!
One of the releases sent out via Critical Update is a "Security Update" for Microsoft's popular Outlook software. This update prevents any other application from accessing your email and address books without your explicit permission. Since many viruses send themselves out to everyone in your address book, this update will save you the grief and embarrassment of wearing the scarlet "V."
Believe me, I've heard every excuse in the book not to have virus software loaded or not to have the most recent updates installed. I have yet to be convinced. If you follow these basic guidelines, you can maintain a virus-free system.
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