Patch notification

[Doug Palin]

I am receiving a repeated message to use a security patch
titled Current Network Critical Patch. Unfortunately my
Nortan Anti virus quarantines the attachment and advises
it contains W23.Swen.A@mm virus in the "installer25.exe".
I believe I installed it the first time and it rendered my
antivirus software useless. After eliminating the virus
with a FixSwen procedure obtained from Norton it is fine.
Since then I have NOT accepted the Patch from MS and am
having no problem. However, the insistence concerns me.
Since it is entitled Current NETWORK Critical Patch and I
am not on a network (strictly personal home computer) can
I ignore it and secondly, can I stop its being repeatedly
sent to me?

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

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


--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell

-------------------------------------------------------------------------


| I am receiving a repeated message to use a security patch
| titled Current Network Critical Patch. Unfortunately my
| Nortan Anti virus quarantines the attachment and advises
| it contains W23.Swen.A@mm virus in the "installer25.exe".
| I believe I installed it the first time and it rendered my
| antivirus software useless. After eliminating the virus
| with a FixSwen procedure obtained from Norton it is fine.
| Since then I have NOT accepted the Patch from MS and am
| having no problem. However, the insistence concerns me.
| Since it is entitled Current NETWORK Critical Patch and I
| am not on a network (strictly personal home computer) can
| I ignore it and secondly, can I stop its being repeatedly
| sent to me?

 

[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

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

--
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