The weakest security link? You

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You are part of the problem.

"The functionality to launch an attachment from within an email
comes in handy. Simply not doing it if you don't know the
sender is common sense."

That's where you're wrong, laughing boy. I get worm and virus
e-mails all day long at work (where they force me to use a
@#$%^&ing Windows @#$%^&box piece of @#$%^&) from
people I know. Interestingly, these people are not aware they are
sending them. In fact, most of the time they aren't. They were
just unlucky enough to get their e-mail addresses put into a
client's address book, and that client got hit with one of these
worms.

So just "not doing it if you don't know the sender" isn't enough.
You need to be aware of what's going around and avoid it.

If there is a general rule to follow, it would be this: Do not open
an attachment unless you were expecting to receive it, and if the
message it's attached to doesn't have a detailed explanation of
what the attachment is, call the sender to confirm that it's really
from them.

It might seem ridiculous to have to phone someone to determine
whether it's safe to read their e-mail, but that's what you have to
do if you want to use Windows. That's the cost. Personally, I
don't think it's worth it. I have better things to do with my time,
but if my boss wants to pay me to jump through all the hoops
you have to jump through to use Windows, it's his money, but
when I go home I don't have to put up with it, because I use a
Mac.

It's pretty ironic that I can be more productive at home than I
can at work, but that's how it is.

Posted by: Immanuel Tranz-Mischen   Posted on: 07/22/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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