When is the last time your received an virus via e-mail?

[CheaperThanBT]

Hi all,

Just wondering what the world looks like at the moment, from a virus point
of view.

1. About two years ago a friend installed NTL Broadband (as so many did).
We made the mistake of not turning the firewall on initially, within three
seconds of the service became live we realised our mistake!
The NTL network was so densely populated with viruses, even dialup users
couldn't use the service without a decent firewall.
Two years on, it's not much of a threat.

2. I have not received an virus via e-mail, in over a year, I am shocked at
this, given I used to receive about twenty per day.

3. I loaded www.SARC.com today, to be amazed by the following message in
their threats page: "
(There are no recent Category 3 or higher threats.)" - Wow!



Anyone else seen a reduction in virus activity? Anyone seen an increase?
Are we winning the war against viruses?



I know, of course, that viruses have now spread to mobile devices, but I'm
shocked at how slowly they have appeared.

And all the arrests of virus writers helps too.


--




Earn £400 - £600 a month 10 - 15 hours a week Hit reply and beg for details
or call
+44 (0)1912471885

www.CheaperThanBT.org.uk/2

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "CheaperThanBT" <[email protected]>

| Hi all,
|
| Just wondering what the world looks like at the moment, from a virus point
| of view.
|
| 1. About two years ago a friend installed NTL Broadband (as so many did).
| We made the mistake of not turning the firewall on initially, within three
| seconds of the service became live we realised our mistake!
| The NTL network was so densely populated with viruses, even dialup users
| couldn't use the service without a decent firewall.
| Two years on, it's not much of a threat.
|
| 2. I have not received an virus via e-mail, in over a year, I am shocked at
| this, given I used to receive about twenty per day.
|
| 3. I loaded www.SARC.com today, to be amazed by the following message in
| their threats page: "
| (There are no recent Category 3 or higher threats.)" - Wow!
|
| Anyone else seen a reduction in virus activity? Anyone seen an increase?
| Are we winning the war against viruses?
|
| I know, of course, that viruses have now spread to mobile devices, but I'm
| shocked at how slowly they have appeared.
|
| And all the arrests of virus writers helps too.
|
| --
|
| Earn £400 - £600 a month 10 - 15 hours a week Hit reply and beg for details
| or call
| +44 (0)1912471885
|
| www.CheaperThanBT.org.uk/2
|

Yesterday on my parents computer. It was a generic Bagle detection by McAfee v4.5.1.

 

[rjdriver]

From: "CheaperThanBT" <[email protected]>

| Hi all,
|
| Just wondering what the world looks like at the moment, from a virus
point
| of view.
|
| 1. About two years ago a friend installed NTL Broadband (as so many
did).
| We made the mistake of not turning the firewall on initially, within
three
| seconds of the service became live we realised our mistake!
| The NTL network was so densely populated with viruses, even dialup users
| couldn't use the service without a decent firewall.
| Two years on, it's not much of a threat.
|
| 2. I have not received an virus via e-mail, in over a year, I am shocked
at
| this, given I used to receive about twenty per day.
|
| 3. I loaded www.SARC.com today, to be amazed by the following message in
| their threats page: "
| (There are no recent Category 3 or higher threats.)" - Wow!
|
| Anyone else seen a reduction in virus activity? Anyone seen an
increase?
| Are we winning the war against viruses?
|
| I know, of course, that viruses have now spread to mobile devices, but
I'm
| shocked at how slowly they have appeared.
|
| And all the arrests of virus writers helps too.
|
| --
|
| Earn £400 - £600 a month 10 - 15 hours a week Hit reply and beg for
details
| or call
| +44 (0)1912471885
|
| www.CheaperThanBT.org.uk/2
|

Yesterday on my parents computer. It was a generic Bagle detection by
McAfee v4.5.1.

Still get 3-4 per week. But I have one e-mail address (because of a
popular gaming website) that is in a lot of peoples (Outlook) address
books.


Bob


Bob

 

[Jari Lehtonen]

Anyone else seen a reduction in virus activity? Anyone seen an increase?
Are we winning the war against viruses?

I know, of course, that viruses have now spread to mobile devices, but I'm
shocked at how slowly they have appeared.

F-Secure's Mikko Hypponen discussed about thin on their weblog
http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/
where he stated that virus writing has become more commercial
business. They are not mainly written by eager teenagers but IT pros
who are doing them against a good money and for a targeted purpose.

Viruses and trojans are used now to change computers to spamsending
robots, to do phisting of credid card numbers and d.o.s. atttacks. And
for those purposes some thousand infected machines are enough, mass
infections are not needed anymore.

Jari

 

[James E. Morrow]

F-Secure's Mikko Hypponen discussed about thin on their weblog
http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/
where he stated that virus writing has become more commercial
business. They are not mainly written by eager teenagers but IT pros
who are doing them against a good money and for a targeted purpose.

Viruses and trojans are used now to change computers to spamsending
robots, to do phisting of credid card numbers and d.o.s. atttacks. And
for those purposes some thousand infected machines are enough, mass
infections are not needed anymore.

Jari

All good points. But I received one email with Swen virus tonight. It
is a rather rare occurrence. But in a sense this only reinforces the
two prior points. One, that viruses are sent by infected boxes. And
two, that they are on the decline.

 

[Gabriele Neukam]

On that special day, CheaperThanBT, ([email protected])
said...

Anyone else seen a reduction in virus activity? Anyone seen an increase?
Are we winning the war against viruses?

You asked this, and two days later I found four Netsky.Q in my inbox,
all from the same Ukrainian IP. It seems the "viruses" are on the
decline (although every malware in my mail was a worm rather than a
"virus"), but the savviness of computer users is by no means rising.


Gabriele Neukam

(e-mail address removed)

 

[louise]

Hi all,

Just wondering what the world looks like at the moment, from a virus point
of view.

1. About two years ago a friend installed NTL Broadband (as so many did).
We made the mistake of not turning the firewall on initially, within three
seconds of the service became live we realised our mistake!
The NTL network was so densely populated with viruses, even dialup users
couldn't use the service without a decent firewall.
Two years on, it's not much of a threat.

2. I have not received an virus via e-mail, in over a year, I am shocked at
this, given I used to receive about twenty per day.

3. I loaded www.SARC.com today, to be amazed by the following message in
their threats page: "
(There are no recent Category 3 or higher threats.)" - Wow!



Anyone else seen a reduction in virus activity? Anyone seen an increase?
Are we winning the war against viruses?



I know, of course, that viruses have now spread to mobile devices, but I'm
shocked at how slowly they have appeared.

And all the arrests of virus writers helps too.

I receive email for a small commercial site. NOD picks up viruses
a few times a week.

However on all my various personal accounts, I've not had a virus
in quite some time.

Louise

 

[CheaperThanBT]

:
: Still get 3-4 per week. But I have one e-mail address (because of a
: popular gaming website) that is in a lot of peoples (Outlook) address
: books.

I find, when more and more people add me to their Address Books, that I
receive more and more Junk Mail - obviously their machines are infected, but
they just don't care!

Saying that, the amount of Junk Mail I receive has also seen a quick
decline. Maybe the mail servers I use are protecting me well!

Now, I'm worried something I want to get through, isn't.

 

[CheaperThanBT]

: >
: I receive email for a small commercial site. NOD picks up viruses
: a few times a week.
:
: However on all my various personal accounts, I've not had a virus
: in quite some time.
:
: Louise


My girlfriend put her e-mail address on her website, and, to my surprise,
she hasn't received a single Spam or Infected mail!

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "CheaperThanBT" <[email protected]>

|
| :
| : Still get 3-4 per week. But I have one e-mail address (because of a
| : popular gaming website) that is in a lot of peoples (Outlook) address
| : books.
|
| I find, when more and more people add me to their Address Books, that I
| receive more and more Junk Mail - obviously their machines are infected, but
| they just don't care!
|
| Saying that, the amount of Junk Mail I receive has also seen a quick
| decline. Maybe the mail servers I use are protecting me well!
|
| Now, I'm worried something I want to get through, isn't.
|

I have that problem with Verizon (my ISP and main email provider) and their application of
"Sender Verification" and ad-hoc blocking of many European Domains. I find I have to use a
Yahoo email address in addition to my Verizon email address because many can't send me email
from Europe.

 

[Beauregard T. Shagnasty]

I have that problem with Verizon (my ISP and main email provider)
and their application of "Sender Verification" and ad-hoc blocking
of many European Domains. I find I have to use a Yahoo email
address in addition to my Verizon email address because many can't
send me email from Europe.

Does Verizon use the Brightmail spam filtering system (used by many
large ISPs)?

My AT&T Worldnet does, and this is a common complaint from
subscribers. "550 blacklist blocked for abuse ..." or something like that.

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Beauregard T. Shagnasty" <[email protected]>

|
| Does Verizon use the Brightmail spam filtering system (used by many
| large ISPs)?
|
| My AT&T Worldnet does, and this is a common complaint from
| subscribers. "550 blacklist blocked for abuse ..." or something like that.
|
| --
| -bts
| -This space intentionally left blank.

Yes it does. { now a Symantec product :-( }

The 550 error is different. It is more like...
"<<< 550 You are not allowed to send mail:sc004pub.verizon.net"

Sometimes this has gone amuck. It has blocked legitimate email from .GOV and .MIL
addresses.
Examples are the; US.Army.Mil and DoJ.Gov Domains.

 

[CheaperThanBT]

:
: Sometimes this has gone amuck. It has blocked legitimate email from .GOV
and .MIL
: addresses.
: Examples are the; US.Army.Mil and DoJ.Gov Domains.


That's a good thing isn't it? ;-)

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "CheaperThanBT" <[email protected]>

| :
| : Sometimes this has gone amuck. It has blocked legitimate email from .GOV
| and .MIL
| : addresses.
| : Examples are the; US.Army.Mil and DoJ.Gov Domains.
|
| That's a good thing isn't it? ;-)
|

It depends on your POV. I regularly communicate with said Domains.

 

[CheaperThanBT]

:
: | :
: | : Sometimes this has gone amuck. It has blocked legitimate email from
..GOV
: | and .MIL
: | : addresses.
: | : Examples are the; US.Army.Mil and DoJ.Gov Domains.
: |
: | That's a good thing isn't it? ;-)
: |
:
: It depends on your POV. I regularly communicate with said Domains.
:

I've found the cyber-terrorist!