VIRUS!! OOPS!!

[Sven Drake]

Apparently my email got hijacked by some bad malware, or whatever you call it, and as a result some really gnarly email went out ot everyone on my contact--which includes a lot of you. I'm as much a victim here as anyone else, but if you were inconvenienced in any way, I apologize. How it happened, I don't know; I don't recall opening anything suspicious. As a rule, if I get any email where I don't recognize the sender, I'll dump it in the spam folder Sometimes I'll get one from someone I know, but there'll be no subject. But if the content is a suspicious looking link, I'll dump it. I suspect this is what happened to a lot of you, when you got an email from Kerry Zane (me).

 

I'm not the only one who uses this computer. There's an outside chance my brother opened something without knowing the possible consequences. Whatya expect? He's 65 years old!

 

Anyway, I've taken steps to insure this doesn't happen again. Yes, I do have an AV program--a damn good one, too--but not even the best will catch EVERY virus, malware, spyware, and what have you.

[jpd]

Heh,

 

That's why I use a different approach to security.

 

I use a software firewall with per-application TCP/IP authorisation, alongside a separate hardware firewall. Needless to say, Internet Explorer and Outlook are denied access to access the internet. I do use FireFox, and run it with AddBlock Plus and NoScript permanently active, and screening all URL's and links in each HTML page. E-mail is accessed through FireFox, and setup in such a way that only the standard, 7 bit ASCII message body ever reaches my end of the connection. That pretty much guarantees that any junk is kept out

 

It also means that I can't read any email that has it's contents in word document formats or anything else fancy, but I have a very simple solution for that. I sent a reply with as body "If you want me to read what you wrote, send it as plain text"

[Guest Spongebob]

Heh,

 

That's why I use a different approach to security.

 

I use a software firewall with per-application TCP/IP authorisation, alongside a separate hardware firewall. Needless to say, Internet Explorer and Outlook are denied access to access the internet. I do use FireFox, and run it with AddBlock Plus and NoScript permanently active, and screening all URL's and links in each HTML page. E-mail is accessed through FireFox, and setup in such a way that only the standard, 7 bit ASCII message body ever reaches my end of the connection. That pretty much guarantees that any junk is kept out

 

It also means that I can't read any email that has it's contents in word document formats or anything else fancy, but I have a very simple solution for that. I sent a reply with as body "If you want me to read what you wrote, send it as plain text"

 

And heres me using a tin foil hat to keep the messages from infecting my brain

[Mickey]

Meh, it happens. Just hope your important files are safe and your important passwords secure.

[Sven Drake]

Heh,

 

That's why I use a different approach to security.

 

I use a software firewall with per-application TCP/IP authorisation, alongside a separate hardware firewall. Needless to say, Internet Explorer and Outlook are denied access to access the internet. I do use FireFox, and run it with AddBlock Plus and NoScript permanently active, and screening all URL's and links in each HTML page. E-mail is accessed through FireFox, and setup in such a way that only the standard, 7 bit ASCII message body ever reaches my end of the connection. That pretty much guarantees that any junk is kept out

 

It also means that I can't read any email that has it's contents in word document formats or anything else fancy, but I have a very simple solution for that. I sent a reply with as body "If you want me to read what you wrote, send it as plain text"

 

And heres me using a tin foil hat to keep the messages from infecting my brain

 

Brain?