I got an e-mail from big@boss.com with “Sample” in the subject line, and an attachment titled “sample.pif” and no other text. I don’t know anyone with that e-mail address and the domain name comes up as not existant, so I deleted the e-mail without opening the attachment. I’m curious, though, if it was spam or a virus. I’d think that it was a virus because of the attachment, but because the domain name doesn’t exist, I’m wondering if it was some kind of spam. Anybody know?
Virus (or more precisely, worm). A new one, too: Sobig.
I’ve been getting lots of those. I got one from an @real.com address. That was odd.
Define your terms.
Checking out this site one finds SPAM is unsolicited email, unsolicited commercial email, unsolicited bulk commercial e-mail, yadda, yadda.
Many folks support the notion that an unsolicted email is SPAM but the various laws apparently do not see it this way.
OTOH, this reputable link explains the difference among viruses, worms, and Trojans.
FWIW, you got SPAMMED by someone with an email containing a virus, worm or Trojan.
Then again, since the purpose of the attachment was to cause some sort of disruption to your computer (erase the hard drive, mess up your address book, whatever) it might be considered a terroristic threat under the new Bush/Cheney/Ashcroft policies.