Microsoft Public Service e-mails

[chausan]

Hi,

In these 2 days I received many e-mail requesting me for doing upgrade
with various microsoft components (examples below). But from what I
know microsoft will generally not asking normal users (my e-mail
account is just a free one among the millions others) to do this. Will
those e-mail contain trojan horse programs or virus ? Where can I
report the case (I need one concrete e-mail address) to if so ?

Thanks!

Example 1:

Sender: "MS Public Services" <[email protected]>
Receiver: "Commercial Client" <[email protected]>
Subject: Last Upgrade

Content:

Microsoft Client

this is the latest version of security update, the "September 2003,
Cumulative Patch" update which fixes all known security
vulnerabilities affecting MS Internet Explorer, MS Outlook and MS
Outlook Express as well as three newly discovered vulnerabilities.
Install now to protect your computer from these vulnerabilities, the
most serious of which could allow an attacker to run executable on
your computer. This update includes the functionality of all
previously released patches.


System requirements Windows 95/98/Me/2000/NT/XP
This update applies to MS Internet Explorer, version 4.01 and later
MS Outlook, version 8.00 and later
MS Outlook Express, version 4.01 and later
Recommendation Customers should install the patch at the earliest
opportunity.
How to install Run attached file. Choose Yes on displayed dialog box.
How to use You don't need to do anything after installing this item.

Microsoft Product Support Services and Knowledge Base articles can be
found on the Microsoft Technical Support web site. For
security-related information about Microsoft products, please visit
the Microsoft Security Advisor web site, or Contact Us.

Thank you for using Microsoft products.

Please do not reply to this message. It was sent from an unmonitored
e-mail address and we are unable to respond to any replies.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The names of the actual companies and products mentioned herein are
the trademarks of their respective owners.

Attachment file: upgrade999.exe

Example 2:

Sender: Microsoft Corporation Public Support@,
Receiver: "Microsoft Consumer" <utgitdfp-qozvdpmie@updates_msdn.net>
Subject: Last Security Update

Content:

Microsoft Consumer

this is the latest version of security update, the "September 2003,
Cumulative Patch" update which fixes all known security
vulnerabilities affecting MS Internet Explorer, MS Outlook and MS
Outlook Express as well as three newly discovered vulnerabilities.
Install now to maintain the security of your computer from these
vulnerabilities.


System requirements Windows 95/98/Me/2000/NT/XP
This update applies to MS Internet Explorer, version 4.01 and later
MS Outlook, version 8.00 and later
MS Outlook Express, version 4.01 and later
Recommendation Customers should install the patch at the earliest
opportunity.
How to install Run attached file. Choose Yes on displayed dialog box.
How to use You don't need to do anything after installing this item.

Microsoft Product Support Services and Knowledge Base articles can be
found on the Microsoft Technical Support web site. For
security-related information about Microsoft products, please visit
the Microsoft Security Advisor web site, or Contact Us.

Thank you for using Microsoft products.

Please do not reply to this message. It was sent from an unmonitored
e-mail address and we are unable to respond to any replies.

 

[Stephany Young]

You are right. Those emails do contain virii and/or trojan horse type
programs.

You are also right that Microsoft would NEVER distribute any sort of
upgrade/fix via email and/ot newsgroup postings.

You are not the only person to be 'hit' with these messages.

I am sure that the people who can do something about this are already aware
of what is happening and so my advice is to delete them.

 

[A.A. Fussy]

I receive those type of messages too in my yahoo! mail account, and it seems
they don't look like a geniune MS email, and I delete them quickly

 

[chausan]

You are right. Those emails do contain virii and/or trojan horse type
programs.

You are also right that Microsoft would NEVER distribute any sort of
upgrade/fix via email and/ot newsgroup postings.

You are not the only person to be 'hit' with these messages.

I am sure that the people who can do something about this are already aware
of what is happening and so my advice is to delete them.

But I couldn't keep on deleting them continuously because since
Sep18,03 I have continuously receiving tens of mail usually of kinds
a. security patch or windows update alert with attachment, b.
undelivered mail reports but I haven't send those e-mail to those
unknown receipents, etc. Any party or web site can suggest methods to
block e-mail accounts from receiving those mail ?