austria@

I received a Yahoo email from <snip> with an attachment. Yahoo stated that Virus "w32.Netsky.D@mm" was found and I could not open the attachment. In the body of the email, it said that the virus was found by Norton Antivirus.

I checked the site and when I did, the site, com.org, came up which appears to be a source of various links to various things. The first antivirus section featured Norton Antivirus 2005.

I replied to the email with the virus message in the reply. Needless to say, the email was refused.

Is this a means to get the virus to computers or is this an ad for Yahoo Mail Plus and Norton Antivirus? Would these two companies use something like this to promote their products? Or am I just suspicious and it is just someone's attempt to spread the virus?


Removed email address--Ron-- Spam harvester?

 

This is not advisable, never reply to any form of spam, you are only confirming you have a valid email address and are more likely to receive even more spam…

I have copied part of a document that we give our clients, hopefully this will give you a little more understanding:


1. Did you send a Virus?

If you get an email returned (bounced back) saying that “your email was undeliverable”, and you didn't send it, and more than likely you have never heard of the person, don't worry about it, you did NOT send it. This is based upon you adequately protecting your computer with very good security. This is what works really well for me, very simple to use and maintain: https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=315075


Usually what happens is a virus on an infected computer sends emails, from email addresses found on that computer. The addresses come from such things as “Forwards”, where people don’t remove the previous email address(s), this can be seen when an email arrives and you can see who the email has come from and/or who it is going to, usually a very big list of people. The virus on the infected computer then picks one email address to be the fake sender, and sends copies of itself (the virus) to other email addresses found on the same infected computer, as though it was coming from you.

Understand this VERY CLEARLY; You have NOT sent the infected email, a virus on an infected computer has harvested and used your email address as the sending address, to forward infected emails.

The virus or Trojan didn't use the real email address of the computer's owner because any undeliverable email that bounced directly back to that computer would tip the owner that they had a problem.

Again, to be clear, it is extremely unlikely your computer has sent the email, so long as you have followed good security practices and your system is adequately protected and you have maintained good sensible and safe security practices.


2. Hoaxes

Don’t pay attention to virus warnings unless you subscribe to an anti-virus companies newsletter and know for sure that the warning is authentic, and please do NOT forward the “so called warnings”.

Most so called virus warnings are HOAXES and usually try to have you action something where part or ALL of your operating system is disabled. The other reason they are sent is to see how fast they can spread panic around the globe, don’t partake in these “Chicken Little” instances, THE SKY IS NOT FALLING.


3. Privacy

Never use the "Unsubscribe" feature of spam emails

Never reply to spam mails, in doing so you confirm the validity of your email address and the spammer can keep on sending you unsolicited commercial email (spam), which you don't want.

The proper way to deal with spam is to delete it.

Never select the option available on web browsers for storing or retaining user name and password.

Never disclose personal, financial, or credit card information to little-known or suspect web sites.

Never use a computer or a device that cannot be fully trusted.

Never use public or Internet café computers to access online financial services accounts or perform financial transactions.


Hope this helps…

Cheers

 

Thanks for the good advice. I have IESpyad, Prevx, Sygate Firewall, Spyware Blaster, Spyware Guard, Adaware, and Spybot S&D as well as being behind a router. I will check out the referral as well to see if there is anything else I need.

I have had online security checks done on my computer and so far, it has been tested secure.

Should I change my yahoo address? It would mean notifying several forums but I can do that.

Thanks again for the great advice. I really depend on your forum for info.

 

Good to see.

Another good practice.

Really not necessary, you are always going to receive such emails and spam, it can’t be helped, other than using something like www.mailwasher.org which will split your mail into what you want and everything else.

My pleasure.

All the best…

Cheers