Warning -- Do NOT open any newsgroup postings with attachments...

[David McRitchie]

ALL of the postings with attachments you are currently seeing in the
Excel newsgroups ALL have or had viruses -- DO NOT OPEN.

Also be suspicious of any posting that is 6 KB or higher, as they are
also not likely to be plain text postings..
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Attachments are basically only acceptable in binary newsgroups,
those that have "binary" in their newsgroup names. There are very
few exceptions to that and the Excel newsgroups are not an
exception.

Attachments greatly increase posting sizes, taking up much additional
space on your computer, transmissions times,
and storage on newsservers and can contain viruses. Also look for
large posting sizes currently most of these postings with viruses
are greater than 128K, and purport to deliver or inform you about
a "Patch", or an "Update", "Security" or "Fix" with other words thrown in.

ALL of the postings with attachments you are currently seeing in the
Excel newsgroups have or had viruses -- DO NOT OPEN.

Many are to made to look like they com from Microsoft -- they don't.

Viruses create forged headers, the sender is almost always not whom it
appears to be so don't email the person telling them they sent you a virus.
The from and to are filled in at random from collected email addresses.

If you have Outlook Express 6, you can select a newsgroup posting
and delete it. If you hold the SHIFT key when you delete, it will be
permanently deleted, which is safest choice.

 

[David McRitchie]

Microsoft has posted a warning on their home page and a link. Wish it could
have been posted in the newsgroups at the time when most of these bogus
e-mails started appearing frequently and then later started appearing in
newsgroups..

http://www.microsoft.com
How to Tell If a Microsoft Security-Related Message Is Genuine (Sep 19, 2003)
http://www.microsoft.com/security/antivirus/authenticate_mail.asp

and includes the following topic:
Example of a Bogus Bulletin
Counterfeit security communications can appear quite convincing, as was the
case with the fraudulent e-mail that was used to distribute the Swen worm.

some examples of bogus bulletins posted today, the titles are generated by
the virus by combining words and phrases so they look different, the
senders email address is forged, some appear to come from Microsoft.
FWD: See patch from the M$
Prove this critical update from the Microsoft
Check out corrective package for Microsoft Internet Explorer
Look at this pack from the MS
See these critical pack for Microsoft Internet Explorer
Re:Try the correction patch from the M$ Corporation

Some email or postings may contain the virus and not show up as
an attachment. So far they do not look like questions but
imperative commands, so that can be part of your identification.

ALL of the postings with attachments you are currently seeing in the
Excel newsgroups ALL have or had viruses -- DO NOT OPEN.

Also be suspicious of any posting that is 6 KB or higher, as they are
also not likely to be plain text postings..
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Attachments are basically only acceptable in binary newsgroups,
those that have "binary" in their newsgroup names. There are very
few exceptions to that and the Excel newsgroups are not an
exception.

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