Am I under attack?

bdbodger · Post by **bdbodger** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 2:28 pm

I have recieved about 4 or 5 emails with attachments that are .pif files . I didn't open them but I did reply to a couple and 2 came back undeliverable . Is someone out there attacking me ?

Post by **Bjarne BZR** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 3:53 pm

Probably someone with e-mail virus. Ignore them. The best you can do is get good Virus protection and never open executable files. And remember, more files than EXE are executable.

It can be very tricky as a scripter to get a virus SRC file, thinkong it is a script....

bdbodger · Post by **bdbodger** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 5:51 pm

Is a .pif file executable ? Why are the email from 5 different souces it seems ?

ziptie2k2 · Post by **ziptie2k2** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 6:35 pm

Maybe someone who has you on there mailbox has one of those stupid email worms!

If so it will hit everyone that is on there list and anyone who opens it it will use there's too. Our office terminals get around 30 or 40 of those type of emails a day. I would delete every one of them. But first go to microsoft or norton website to try to find out if it is a worm and how to get rid of it.

wacko · Post by **wacko** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 11:27 pm

i get about 10 infected mails per day since I started the recycling bin. dunno, whether they are from someone with an infected OS or from someone sending viruses to webmasters in general

Anyway, best u can do is having an Antivirus program always checking incoming mails and always kept up to date. And switch off the preview window in Outlook, I know it's annoying, but some viruses are fast like hell

And never open attachments that make no sense (even if they seem to be interesting).
If u haven't turned on file extensions already, do so or atleast be aware that attachments which nevertheless have extensions, obviously have two of them (like funny.txt.exe which would show up as funny.txt where a txt file is looking quite harmless, but the exe file probably won't be)

M&M · Post by **M&M** » Sat Mar 06, 2004 2:22 am

not all attachments are viruses,but sometimes they are confused with them. specially if its an exe
like that pk3 u sent me a couple of weeks ago wacko ,i dont suppose it had a virus .imo because all those viruses travelling the net everyday that all email antiviruses became very sensitive 2 detect them confusing sometimes other stuff as well.
some ppl just spoile it 4 everybody

bdbodger · Post by **bdbodger** » Sat Mar 06, 2004 10:07 am

Well it seem they have stopped comeing at least I think so . I got about 7 I think all from different email addresses all about the same "here is your word file" "here is your file " "about your webpage" etc etc all the attachments had .pif extentions . I never open attachments from people I don't know and even people I do know . People I know don't send files that way .

Jack Ruby · Post by **Jack Ruby** » Sat Mar 06, 2004 12:08 pm

Thats the way to go, NEVER EVER open unsolicited email, if you requested it from a friend or whatever go ahead but mail from anyone you dont know should be deleted instantly.

When I first got a pc someone ( a stranger I probably abused in a chatroom ) sent me a zip, looked interesting, went and downloaded winzip I was soo eager to see what was in there, the Ba**ard thing was a virus, how stupid did I feel

So I learned the hard way, never open anything from strangers.

crunch · Post by **crunch** » Sat Mar 06, 2004 12:48 pm

Yep. If you suspect an e-mail, then it is better not to open it.

I live in the New York, USA area. I recently received an e-amil from my mail server that said mail would be down for a few days. It included a .zip file simply titled "TextDocument" that supposedly contained more info about the server situation.

Guess what....I was suspicious and deleted the e-mail without opening the attachment. The next day I was at my ISP homepage, and they had an article about a virus going around, "pretending" to originate from the mailserver address.

So you can never be too sure.

Post by **Bjarne BZR** » Sat Mar 06, 2004 1:19 pm

If you are using a preview window, be sure to set your e-mail client to "dont download pictures from the internet"... lots of spammers use this downloading to confirm that their spam is red at your adress, and so they will continue spamming your address.

( I get 50 - 100 spam mails a day )

bdbodger · Post by **bdbodger** » Sun Mar 07, 2004 12:00 am

Well the emails have started again . I looked at the source for the emails and they are comeing from the same ip so I reported it to my isp and did a whois with a program I have . It came up with a abuse@....com email address so I reported it there too with a copy of a couple of the email sources . Maybe that will help .

M&M · Post by **M&M** » Sun Mar 07, 2004 11:30 am

its time 2 take justice into ur own hands .....send them viruses as well

bdbodger · Post by **bdbodger** » Sun Mar 07, 2004 3:03 pm

I wish I could . The emails contain the ip of the perp and the abuse@...com is his isp . I got a email from the isp that said

We will investigate and if there has been a violation, we will contact our customer and take steps to ensure that the violating

activity ceases. As part of our investigation, we may forward to our customer the log portion of your message showing the

intrusive activity.

***** does not censor content or otherwise exercise editorial control over the public message space on its Internet Service, nor

does ***** monitor nor control the content and activities of its customers. If the abuse is criminal in content or conduct, please

contact local law enforcement to lodge a complaint. ***** will cooperate fully with law enforcement authorities if warranted.

It may take some time to resolve your complaint, due to the large number of messages received, the complexity of some cases, and

the effort required by ***** Internet Services and its customers to deal with violations. You may not receive a confirmation that

we are dealing with the offence. Please do not take this as a lack of response.

We typically take one of three responses:
1) Issue a warning by email indicating complaint has been registered
2) Issue a verbal warning that service may be suspended if activity continues
3) Suspend ***** Internet Service to the customer

We are unable to disclose which action was taken due to privacy rules.

omniscient · Post by **omniscient** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 4:25 am

yea i get a whole bunch of spam. what i always say is that only stupid stuff gets u viruses. a txt document wont get u a virsu no matter how much ppl think it will. exe is the most noted one, but u know not to open those. i was into the whole ROM thing (console games stolen onto the comp) and i d/led a gamecube rom. i was so excited i opened it right away. anyway the screen went blank, brought up the black dos scren and said formatting HDD, please wait. i was like "NO!!!!!!" after it was done it said "April Fools!" i was so relieved, and scared, i havent done anything like that again.

wacko · Post by **wacko** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 7:08 am

omniscient wrote:...a txt document wont get u a virsu no matter how much ppl think it will...

just to emphazise this: if u haven't turned on in the folder options to show the extensions of 'known file types' - and there seem to be many who didn't - a received attachment e.g. called readme.txt.exe would show up as readme.txt but of course is an exe.