Bogus Emails from Microsoft

[Doug]

Ever since emailing a request for help to Microsoft I
have been receiving bogus emails from senders like:
(e-mail address removed) and
(e-mail address removed)
Along with these emails there is an attachement for
Security Updates that are infected with a virus. Luckily
my virus scan has kept these from infecting my computer.
But can someone please tell me how I can stop this from
happening?

Thank you

 

[Will Denny]

Hi

Have you at some posted to these News Groups or others will a 'legit' email
address? That's were the email addresses are 'harvested' from. You can't
do much about the already affected address, but a program like Mailwasher
will you to delete those emails before you download:

www.firetrust.com

--

Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User


| Ever since emailing a request for help to Microsoft I
| have been receiving bogus emails from senders like:
| (e-mail address removed) and
| (e-mail address removed)
| Along with these emails there is an attachement for
| Security Updates that are infected with a virus. Luckily
| my virus scan has kept these from infecting my computer.
| But can someone please tell me how I can stop this from
| happening?
|
| Thank you

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

What you received is the output of a computer infected by one of
several widely publicized, wide-spread, mass emailing worms. The
virus' authors have deliberately spoofed the Microsoft information in
the hopes of garnering more victims. This sort of email has been very
common for at least the past year. The most widely-known are:

W32.Swen.A_mm
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/[email protected]

W32.Dumaru_mm
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/[email protected]

W32.Gibe_mm
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/[email protected]

Trojan.Xombe
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/trojan.xombe.html

Microsoft never has, does not currently, and very probably never
will email unsolicited security patches. At the most, if, and only
if, you subscribe to their security notification newsletter, they will
send you an email informing you that a new patch is available for
downloading.

Microsoft Policies on Software Distribution
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/?url=/technet/security/policy/swdist.asp

Information on Bogus Microsoft Security Bulletin Emails
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/news/patch_hoax.asp

How to Tell If a Microsoft Security-Related Message Is Genuine
http://www.microsoft.com/security/antivirus/authenticate_mail.asp

Remember, any and all legitimate patches and updates are readily
available at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/. You should develop
the habit of checking this site at least once a month to keep your
computer up-to-date. (Notice that this is the true URL, rather than
the bogus one that may have been contained in the email you received.)
Any messages that point to any other source(s) or claim to have the
patch attached are bogus.

You're receiving these emails because your email address is in
the address book of someone infected with a worm, and/or because you
posted your real email address somewhere on-line, either in a forum
accessible to the public and spambots, such as Usenet, or on an
untrustworthy web site that subsequently sold your address as part of
a mailing list. One thing you can do is notify _everyone_ with whom
you've ever corresponded via email that one or more of them may be
infected with a mass emailing worm, and should take the appropriate
steps. You can also ask your ISP to take steps to preclude their mail
server from passing on such emails. Many ISPs have such filtering
capabilities.


Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:




You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH

 

[Doug]

Yep. Unfortunately I made that mistake by putting my
real email addy in here. Thank you for the insight.

-----Original Message-----
Hi

Have you at some posted to these News Groups or others will a 'legit' email
address? That's were the email addresses

are 'harvested' from. You can't

 

[Doug]

Thank you Bruce for all the information. This is very
helpful. And to confirm what you said I have been
receiving mailer deamon notices quite often also because
of this. It just really sucks. I might have to call my
ISP and see if I can change my email addy because of this
now. Thank you again!

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

You're welcome.

Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:




You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH