Sober worm stalls MSN, Hotmail

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Get Rid of Outlook and Practice Security Meausres

Are any of us surprised about this latest Sober attack? But then...by now, most users have been exposed to enough information on attacks, they should know better!

Who, I might ask, who uses a computer and simple a simple e-mail client, has not been exposed to the constant pounding of news that if you open an untrusted or unknown email, especially with an attachment, you are ASKING to get infected?

So long as common sense, logic and intelligence fail to impress the average human being, they
will continue to suffer the consequences. You just can't get lax and let your guard down these days! And you can't just point and click and expect to be infection free. You have to use some common sense and basic security sense to reduce the risk. I say reduce, because every one of us, lapses in a moment of thoughtless rush, and clicks on something we shouldn't have.

Basic security common sense these days says:

1). If you don't know who it's from, don't click on it. Delete it immediately without opening it. Especially if it has an attachment.

2). Have antivirus and antispam activated in your email client, and above all, keep antivirus and antispam filters up-to-date.

3). Report all unknown email sources and especially any with attachments, to your ISP as spam. If you accidentally report a family member or friend who gets a nasty note from the ISP, you can always apologize later and explain you weren't sure if it was spam or contaminated email and so you took the necessary security precautions.

4). Learn how to write spam filter rules and assign unknown email addresses to your filters.
This doesn't eliminate the spam and contaminated email, it just reduces a repeat of the same ones.
Spammers use a shotgun approach to email addresses...they constantly develop variants, and yours just may be struck upon as one of them.

5). Make a practice of logging onto your mailbox at your ISP first. Go through the mail there without importing or downloading it to your personal computer. Delete all suspicious stuff there without ever downloading it. Report all spam and potential spam immediately to your ISP.
The only email you should download to your personal computer is the email you WANT on your computer, after it has already been inspected.
For me, this ends up being, maybe half a dozen emails a WEEK! Out of hundreds and hundreds.

6). Use an email client which isn't a security risk. I hate to say it, but Microsoft's Outlook and Outlook Express are a HUGE, glaring, security risk. PERIOD. Everyone in the "know," is aware of that fact. So investigate alternatives. Try Mozilla's Firefox. Try Pegasus or one of the other ones that virus, trojan and worm writers haven't been able to crack. I got RID of Outlook and Outlook Express and use Firefox myself. And I only use it after
practicing safe email security procedures by pre-examining the email on my ISP's email client first before downloading to my own computer.

Ok, so if you do these things, you will significantly reduce your risks. Try them out.

Posted by: jimc52@...   Posted on: 12/06/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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