How to be as safe as you can be
The best virus protection against email worms is
knowledge and diligence. Be aware of what the email is before you open it. If
the email appears questionable, 1) - delete it or 2) - if you think it might be
important contact the sender (either by a new email or phone) to see if they
actually sent it. (Do not respond to the questionable email. Sometimes that is
just enough to allow the virus to get a foot hold.)
Now, you ask, how do I know what the email is
about before I open it? The best way is to use the ‘message with auto-preview’
view in Outlook. Do not use the preview pane. Most versions of Outlook will
allow an HTML based virus to work its evil in the preview pane. I also like to
set the ‘return to inbox’ for the action to take ‘after moving or deleting open
items’. This option is accessed by the E-mail Options button on the Preferences
tab of Tools | Options. By returning to inbox, you minimize the chance of
accidentally opening an email that you did not really want to open. Now, I know
that most home users are not using Outlook; they are probably using Outlook
Express or perhaps AOL. Well, I don’t know anything about being safe with AOL,
but in Outlook Express you again want to turn off the preview
pane. Unfortunately, Outlook Express does not have the ‘message with auto-preview’
feature.
As you look at the email in the message preview,
you should be asking yourself some questions. Did this come from someone I
know? Are the words in the message similar to their style? Is the message a RE:
to something that I never sent? If the message does not look like your friends
style it is probably not from them. If it is an RE: to something that you did
not send, then it is at best SPAM and at worst a worm/virus. Just delete
it. Bill Gates does not take polls on the internet and he does not give away
money for forwarding emails.
Most of these articles have been discussing email
born worms and viruses. There is another class of worm that is becoming more
prevalent and more destructive. The MSBlaster worm is a recent example. It did
propagate by email, but it also propagated by finding vulnerable systems on the
internet. As more and more people have DSL or cable access there will be more
and more chances for this type of worm to spread quickly.
The best protection against non-email worms is
pro-active patching. Most of the problems that allow these worms to propagate
are discovered and fixed weeks before a worm or virus that exploits the problem
is released. The automatic update from Microsoft is the best line of
defense. The bug that allowed MSBlaster worm to propagate was fixed by Microsoft
about one month before the worm was released. I have seen other worms attack a
hole that was fixed was over one year earlier and infect thousands of systems.
You might consider a current operating system,
such as Windows XP, and Outlook to be anti-virus tools that are worth investing
in.
|
