# Does This Email Contain A Virus or ??? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 19, 2004, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-email-contain-a-virus-or/275646 "2004-11-19T13:33:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-email-contain-a-virus-or/275646/1 "2004-11-19T13:33:39Z")
Following is the text of an email received overnight. The sender is unknown to me. Could this contain a virus in the zip attachment or a porn site entrance?? “Your password was changed successfully! ++++++ User-Service: [httpwww.marseille-innov.asso.fr](http://httpwww.marseille-innov.asso.fr) ++++++ MailTo: [postmaster@marseille-innov.asso.fr](mailto:postmaster@marseille-innov.asso.fr) (Attachments successfully scanned for viruses.) Attachment 1: marseille-innov.zip (application/octet-stream)” ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-email-contain-a-virus-or/275646/2 "2004-11-19T13:40:02Z")
> [@spingears](#): > > Following is the text of an email received overnight. > The sender is unknown to me. Could this contain a virus in the zip attachment or a porn site entrance?? > > “Your password was changed successfully! > ++++++ User-Service: \<[http://www.marseille-innov.asso.fr](http://www.marseille-innov.asso.fr)\> > ++++++ MailTo: \<[postmaster@marseille-innov.asso.fr](mailto:postmaster@marseille-innov.asso.fr)\> > (Attachments successfully scanned for viruses.) > Attachment 1: marseille-innov.zip (application/octet-stream)” The links should have been deactivated! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-email-contain-a-virus-or/275646/3 "2004-11-19T13:51:46Z")
Most likely the zip atttachment will appear to contain a file with the extension .txt, but this will actually turn out to be a file called _something.txt[loads and loads of spaces].exe_ or similar - Winzip and other file compression utilities, when they open the zip file, may not show the fu width of the file name and you might be tempted to think the real extension is .txt ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-email-contain-a-virus-or/275646/4 "2004-11-19T14:28:49Z")
100% virus. Do not open the attachment! It’s the W32/Sober.f@MM virus. [http://vil.nai.com/vil/content/v\_101154.htm](http://vil.nai.com/vil/content/v_101154.htm) ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-email-contain-a-virus-or/275646/5 "2004-11-19T14:48:53Z")
> [@Futile Gesture](#): > > 100% virus. Do not open the attachment! It’s the W32/Sober.f@MM virus. > > [http://vil.nai.com/vil/content/v\_101154.htm](http://vil.nai.com/vil/content/v_101154.htm) And update your Virus defs since your AV didn’t catch it 😉 ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-email-contain-a-virus-or/275646/6 "2004-11-19T17:04:16Z")
The ISP does a virus scan on all incoming mail and Norton AV updated a few days ago didn’t catch it. No PW had been requestd. As the source had never been connected to AFAIK it was dumped to oblivion. Thanks for help with ID. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-email-contain-a-virus-or/275646/7 "2004-11-19T17:18:46Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > And update your Virus defs since your desktop AV didn’t catch it 😉 Your AV wouldn’t normally catch that – it’s a link to a page that contains the virus, not a virus itself. A good spam filter or e-mail server AV might have caught it, but there’s no virus until you click on the link. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-email-contain-a-virus-or/275646/8 "2004-11-19T17:38:20Z")
If the question “Could this be a virus?” crosses your mind, you’re probably best off treating it as a virus and deleting it without reading.