Bogus Microsoft emails

[Malinda]

Please explain why Microsoft cannot stop the bogus email
messages from various sources that claim to be from
Microsoft. Within the last two days I have received 20
plus emails each day that contained viruses that
supposely came from Microsoft. If you cannot stop them
what can the consumer do to get rid of them. I have
Norton's Anit=Virus and Firewall plus I have my system
set up on a small network with my IP address hidden.
What else can I do. Thanks

 

[Cheryl Fischer]

Please explain why Microsoft cannot stop the bogus email

messages from various sources that claim to be from
Microsoft.

Think about it, Malinda. For Microsoft to be able to "stop" these emails
emanating from thousands of infected computers, not to mention "stopping"
those who write the viruses, would require a level of control that most
users would find objectionable, even if it were possible. The "security
patch" email has been around for quite some time now, using different
worms/viruses, and Microsoft has warned users not to open the attachments,
the experts in this and other forums advise the same thing as do television
news reports. Yet, users download and open attachments, do not own and use
anti-virus software, do not secure their systems with legitimate updates,
and on and on...

It sounds as if you are doing what you need to do. Here is a link that you
can review to double-check your security:

http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/default.asp

 

[Nicholas]

Those bogus emails you are receiving are usually from anonymous sources.
Microsoft can't really do anything about it. That would be like asking the
Post Office to stop delivering "junk mail" to your mailbox.

You can be assured Microsoft is very disturbed with folks receiving bogus
Microsoft email messages and are diligently working to track down and prosecute the
offending perpetrators.

Please take a moment to read the following articles:

Information on Bogus Microsoft Security Bulletin E-mails
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

How to Trim the "Spam" from Your E-Mail Diet
http://www.microsoft.com/security/articles/spam.asp


--
Nicholas

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| Please explain why Microsoft cannot stop the bogus email
| messages from various sources that claim to be from
| Microsoft. Within the last two days I have received 20
| plus emails each day that contained viruses that
| supposely came from Microsoft. If you cannot stop them
| what can the consumer do to get rid of them. I have
| Norton's Anit=Virus and Firewall plus I have my system
| set up on a small network with my IP address hidden.
| What else can I do. Thanks

 

[Ph0eniX]

There is no way of stopping the e-mails ...and even if there was, Microsoft
certainly wouldn't be in position to do that. Most of the e-mails are sent
from addresses belonging to European or Asian ISPs so we can't even sent the
FBI to track the senders and prosecute them.

You, on the other hand, can setup filters in your e-mail client.

 

[Roger Abell]

Please explain why Microsoft cannot stop the bogus email
messages from various sources that claim to be from
Microsoft. Within the last two days I have received 20
plus emails each day that contained viruses that
supposely came from Microsoft. If you cannot stop them
what can the consumer do to get rid of them. I have
Norton's Anit=Virus and Firewall plus I have my system
set up on a small network with my IP address hidden.
What else can I do. Thanks

You can use a spam blocker software.


What would you like, to have some network police so
that actions like these can be prevented ?
There are those that would like to make it so that no one
can ever do anything on the network without there being
absolute certainty in knowing who did what. With that,
such as this virus could be prevented. Short of that there
is not a great deal that can be done.

 

[malinda]

I should have realized that was to big a job but I would
like to know what else I can do to stop it. I have
received 67 of them in two days time. I have high speed
internet service thru Charter Communications and I have
been on hold for 29 minutes trying to see if I changed me
email address, or find out what Charter is doing about
the problem. Thanks, Malinda

 

[Cheryl Fischer]

67 in two days is not too bad <smile>; when this started I was getting about
that many every half hour - no fun. (And, my own fault, as well, as I did
use my primary email addy here in this NG and in one or two others).

I use msn.com and their filtering could be better; however, I have managed
to slow this down quite a bit by blocking the domains on all of the
obviously bad names, such as msn.net, ms.com, ms.net, etc. Where the mail
is coming from a valid domain from which I might get good email, I have had
to block the full email addy. (Finally gave up and blocked the entire
aol.com domain, though.) So far, although I have hit the wall on custom
filters (on subject line) using msn.com, I can still block senders and the
"security patch" and "returned" emails have slowed somewhat.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

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.

There's probably no way of blocking all of the bogus messages, but
you can greatly reduce the number you get by creating a rule, based
upon the most commonly used subject lines, to delete the emails from
the server without ever downloading them.


Bruce Chambers

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