microsoft security bulletin spam??

  • Thread starter Thread starter John
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J

John

Hi,
whats the story on this stuff, is it a virus,bug,or what. And more
importantly, how do I get rid of it.John
 
You can run the Welchia and MSBlast fixers/checkers on the Symantec pages
just to check for a virus/worm but it's more likely just the spam that all
of us are getting, usually unwittingly, from people who have got one of
these or other bugs. The freeware, Mailwasher, lets you set up filters which
hide most of it before it even comes onto your PC and I found that mine
lessened slightly when I put a spam trap in my return address for
newsgroups messages. Some ISPs started filtering it out when the weight of
messages threatened to bring them to their knees. Others have just learnt to
function on their knees :(

Otherwise, its just all the usual stuff, up-to-date anti-virus and fire
wall, the latest security patches and don't run attachments unless the
message body (opened in Mailwasher, not the OE preview pane) confirms that
they are from people you know who are intentionally sending them to you.
Evi
 
Thanks Evi........much obliged.:-)
Evi said:
You can run the Welchia and MSBlast fixers/checkers on the Symantec pages
just to check for a virus/worm but it's more likely just the spam that all
of us are getting, usually unwittingly, from people who have got one of
these or other bugs. The freeware, Mailwasher, lets you set up filters which
hide most of it before it even comes onto your PC and I found that mine
lessened slightly when I put a spam trap in my return address for
newsgroups messages. Some ISPs started filtering it out when the weight of
messages threatened to bring them to their knees. Others have just learnt to
function on their knees :(

Otherwise, its just all the usual stuff, up-to-date anti-virus and fire
wall, the latest security patches and don't run attachments unless the
message body (opened in Mailwasher, not the OE preview pane) confirms that
they are from people you know who are intentionally sending them to you.
Evi
Click to expand...
 
Greetings --

What you received is either a very common, malicious hoax or the
output of a computer infected by one of several widely publicized,
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 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

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

--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH
 
Oops! Forgot to mention the most common cause of these messages - Swen.
Thanks Bruce
Evi
 
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