Valentine's Day e-Card Could Be Virus In Waiting
Be wary when opening e-mail greeting cards this Valentine's Day if you don't know the sender. As Switched.com has been warning all its readers for a few weeks now, the message could turn out to be a computer virus, in this case known as a "botnet," which can take over your computer to send more viruses out, link to other computers doing the same, or even steal your personal information.
The FBI suggests not opening e-mail if you don't know the sender.
This particular e-mail baddy is known as the Storm Worm virus, and saw activity around several holidays last year. It takes advantage of people who let down their guard because an e-mail greeting card is often entertaining and seen as non-threatening.
Typically, the e-card arrives in a user's in-box, the e-mail is opened, and the user is directed to click on a link within the text to retrieve the full card. That's when the virus download occurs. The Storm Worm will be downloaded to that computer and begin its bad work, which ultimately is to deny service to a large network.
Storm Worm (so named because the subject line of the e-mail messages originally contained the line "Many Dead As Storm Batters Europe") was the most pervasive Internet attack last year.
Here are Switched.com's quick three tips to avoid Storm Worm and other viruses, trojans and malwares from being downloaded to your computer:
- Don't click on a link in an e-mail message from someone you don't know.
- Turn on your e-mail reader's spam prevention.
- If an advertisement you find on a Web page looks suspicious, type in the company Web address yourself instead of clicking directly on the ad (Sometimes Web ads are another way viruses and trojans get distributed.)
From News.com.au.
Related Links:
- New Malicious MySpace Friends Plant Viruses
- Record Industry Wants Anti-Virus Software to Scan for Pirated Files
- Malicious Websites Trick Google, Infect Computers
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Daniel Gaunt @ Feb 14th 2008 8:59AM
Hopefully norton will protect me!
http://freeextras.blogspot.com/
http://lifeorsomethingnotquitelikeit.blogspot.com/
cupppies @ Feb 14th 2008 12:52PM
Norton??? Are you kidding me?? That`s the worst virus protection you can use!! It interferes with everything...having problems with your pc, remove Norten and I bet your problem goes away, especially where games are concerned. Get new protection dude!
bond392140 @ Feb 14th 2008 1:19PM
Just got some sort of virus off an AOL site. Do not go to:
http://www.aol.com/redir.adp?_e_t=ap&_a_v=2.0&_a_i=100214839x1155736220x1079943452&_url=http%3a%2f%2fmobile%2eaol%2ecom%2f
It's the article in the news about sending a text valentine to someone -sent one to my wife and suddenly Explorer started opening up in massive quantities. Could only get out by one finger salute.
Lillian @ Feb 14th 2008 1:19PM
NEVER OPEN MAIL FROM SOMEONE YOU DON'T KNOW!!!!!People are just too nosy to read ALL the email they get and they get into trouble that way.
Those emails go into my spam folder anyway and I check the addresses and subject lines....if I don't know them, I hit the deletion button.
If I have someone whose not in my address book wanting to send something to me I tell them to put their name in the subject line so I will know it's them and remove it from spam and place it into my regular email folder, and I do the same for others I wish to send to for the first time. Simple rules to save tons of headache.
Some virus programs won't save you, you really need to take the time and be cautious not to open anything strange, it's usually "junk mail" anyway, so why bother.
Aa'ed Alqarta @ Feb 18th 2008 3:17AM
This virus is still in the wild, yesterday i got one in my e-mail. check more on this blog
http://extremesecurity.blogspot.com/2008/02/happy-valentines-day.html
edzo @ Feb 20th 2008 9:19AM
I agree,Norton sucks!Even my Verizon Security Suite is better,detects twice as many'problems'and faster!Norton is also incompatible with Verizon DSL.I too had to uninstall Norton in order for my computer to run properly.
nikki @ Feb 22nd 2008 12:29PM
hey ppl...dont open mail if u dont know who its from...my grandmaw always taught me that...
any who...
if u wont to add me on myspace..thats my url.....www.myspace.com/url109....byes...o no one over 23...you will b denied...
thanks