Given that computer-related questions seem to be posted quite frequently on the SDMB, this one may have been asked before, so please direct me to the earlier version if that is the case. Anyway, here goes.
Since Easter this year, I seem to have been getting at least two unwanted messages (in addition to the occasional piece of spam, of course) e-mailed to me every day. One is a message with a really suss attachment, while the other is a “Delivery Failure Notification” message, or whatever it is they’re called (for some reason, I can’t remember the exact name at this very moment). The message with the attachment usually originates (or seems to, given that the address of the sender is almost invariably forged) from a French address (this hasn’t always been the case, however; indeed, yesterday, I actually received one such message which had supposedly been sent *to * me *by * me!), and usually contains one line of text that attempts to get me to open the attachment. These attempts have ranged from the admittedly cunning (one was made to appear as though it had originated from Symantec; told me that, unbeknownst to me, my computer was acting as a transmitter for the MyDoom virus; and said that, if I only opened the attachment the sender had thoughtfully included with their message, everything would be all fixed up) through to the banal (eg “Here is your document”, “Here is this month’s report” etc) through to ones that have me thinking, “Just how fucking stupid do you think I am?!” (eg ones telling me that the attachment contains “Sex Pictures” or a picture of me naked, or is something that has been sent to me by “my best friend” or “true love”). The messages also often contain a line of text about how the attachment has been confirmed to be virus-free (yeah right) by some presumably reputable piece of anti-virus software (they then provide a link to the software company in question, as though that somehow automatically makes their claims of the attachment’s safeness legitimate). Given the similar format that all of these messages have, I’m wondering if they’re being sent by the same person, and therefore contain the same virus. If this is the case, does anyone know what virus I’m likely being bombarded with, and what it would do if ever I were dumb enough to unleash it on my PC? Was the aforementioned cunning message’s claim that my computer was transmitting the MyDoom virus actually an admission that that’s the nasty I’m being sent? (A really stupid part of me is actually curious to find out, but, of course, sanity always prevails, and I treat every such message as the garbage it no doubt is.)
The “Delivery Failure Notification” messages, by contrast, seem to originate from sites all around the world (one had an address ending with the letters “mg”; does anyone know which country these represent?), and prove rather frustrating things to get rid of since, when I so much as highlight them, I get one of those exasperating “This programme has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down” message boxes that I have to close before I can delete the message. Would anyone know why this happens?
Probably not from the same person with some sort of vendetta against you. Your address is getting passed around like Christina Aguilera at a backstage party. Sorry.
Does it matter which virus/trojan/worm? The fact of the matter is the script kiddies of the world are hell-bent on putting sand in the gears of computerdumb, and have been quite successful at it.
You best bet is to follow the sticky in GQ. Download, install and configure the requisite anti-virus, anti-hijack, anti-theft computer software programs, as well as practice safer surfing.
You may also include dumping a very popular browser and its sister email program for software that is (currently) less vulnerable to spreading such viruses/trojans/worms.
Report the spam to your ISP if you can. On AOL, i can choose to ignore all spam from a certain address by clicking a button. Usually it works. I’ve gotten the fake symantec one as well. But by far the most cunning one I recieved was an email with a header something like, “Your order has been confirmed”. Almost made me click on it. I know I didn’t buy anything, but i just get paranoid and always want to check out if my credit card has been stolen.
I sincerely doubt that there is a person with a vendetta against you trying to infect your computer. It’s far more likely that one or more people who have your email address are infected with a virus that automatically distributes itself to people in their address book. Chances are high that they don’t even know they have this virus, and every time they log on to the net the emails are automatically generated and sent to you without their knowledge.
I had similar emails arriving several times a day for a number of weeks. I was not able to identify which of my friends or acquaintances had the virus, but recently the emails stopped coming in. Either the computer with the virus has not been online recently or the virus has been discovered and removed. I suspect it’s only a matter of time until another computer becomes infected and the emails start rolling in again.
I am getting these, as well as everybody else at my employer’s. Someone in the company opened one of the attachments and, since we all by default have everyone else in the company’s email address in our Outlook address book, everybody is getting them. So, no, it is not something directed against you as an individual.
I get 15-30 per day, with a few variations. Some with a bit of fractured English. All share the attribute of somehow inviting me to open the attachment. Most are, as you note, rather banal prose to the effect that “your document is attached” or some such. I have received bogus Symantec emails advising me that my cure is in the attachment. And many come with the end notation that they are scanned and virus free.
One I received last week claimed to be from the FBI and said it had tracked my my Internet browsing and had confirmed my visits to illegal sites. And please read the attached document for details. Sheesh.
FWIW, I am not getting these on any of my “home” email addresses.
Your ISP has updated their filters to trap the particular email(s) you were getting. The typical ISP has a staff that does nothing all day but look at summaries of junk traffic and build filters to divert that stuff before it gets to you.
Its random. Some days it rains where you are, and other days it doesn’t. But it’s always raining someplace.
I get exactly the sort of email the OP mentions 2 or three times a day, infected with a version of the Netsky worm (Thanks Norton!). I believe they all come from the same infected machine because a) they all originate from the same ISP and b) they only come during office hours - the infected machine is presumably switched off at the weekend. The ‘from’ address is spoofed and is found by the worm scanning files on the infected computer.