Strange emails?

[Mark F]

I am recieving aprox 20 emails a day, some saying they
are microsoft security updates but most are saying that
they are failed emails. Not only do these emails say that
they were unable too deliver but they also open an option
to open or save an application, or screen saver etc.
I haven't opened any of the files, for now, I'm just
deleting them.
The orginating email addresses are from very obscure
email services and the address they were intended for are
just letters and no.s that don't make sense. I.e asdhke
and others that don't make sense.
Is there anyone out there who knows what is going on.
cheers, Mark F

 

[Ph0eniX]

Read the forum before posting.

 

[Mike]

I get similar emails too. NEVER OPEN AN EMAIL ATTACHMENT
UNLESS YOU KNOW FOR CERTAIN WHO SENT IT AND WHY!
Microsoft would NEVER send security updates via email
(they say that on their web site). I also recently
received a bogus email from someone pretending to be from
Ebay Customer Service. It has text entry boxes requesting
my User Name and Password! It looks VERY official and
even has an email address of ebay.com! I forwarded the
bogus email to (e-mail address removed) and they confirmed that it
was bogus and will investigate it further. I learned the
hard way some time ago to NOT TRUST ANY EMAIL that I
receive from anyone! It is just too easy to get fooled
and screwed!

Regards

 

[satwaworld]

They are fake delete them, don't open those attachments..
I've had a ton of them.
Microsoft does not send attachments. They are fakes. Put
a filter through your e-mail account, block the address,
and empty your e-mails' bulk mail folder, and e-mail
account trash folder often.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

What you received is either a very common malicious hoax or the
output of a computer infected by one of several wide-spread, mass
emailing worms. 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]

Microsoft never has, does not currently, and 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

Any and all legitimate patches and updates are readily available
at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/. (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.

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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