Virus emails

"Esmail Bonakdarian" wrote in message
...

"Unix [which underlies Mac OS X] and Linux ARE more secure," wrote one
reader.
"They have been developed, open-source style, by people who know exactly
what
they are doing. Unix and Linux have had at least 10 years of battling
hackers
to better themselves. This leads to an extremely secure environment."

Gee, what do you think the chances are that that "reader" is a Mac or Linux
user with an axe to grind?

* No Macintosh e-mail program automatically runs scripts that come
attached to
incoming messages, as Microsoft Outlook does.

Huh?

Look -- I don't love Microsoft, or its products, or some of its corporate
practices. But an awful lot of nonsense is getting spouted about this
recent worm.

Many thanks to all who have replied. Following your suggestions, I found the
preview pane, and once I was in the inbox, OE allowed me to turn it off, after a
couple of tries. I try not to sue OE as my email program but I do have an email address
there in order to use Yahoo.
I am astonished that a multi-billion dollar corporation like MS can't find a way
to plug all these holes before viruses come through. Maybe as one of our posters said,
they have no financial incentive to do so. But perhaps they are now skating on thin
ice: as viruses become more and more disabling, a platform without all these holes
becomes more and more appealing to businesses, institutions, and individuals. Pride may
goeth before a fall, in MS's case. I certainly hope something shapes them up soon.
Ciao,
Bill Meyers

Trane Francks wrote:

On 09/22/03 08:00 +0900, Florian wrote:

Opening an email shouldn't infect you so long as you don't launch the attachment.

Unfortunately "launch the attachment" can happen automatically in
Outlook Express unless all the security updates have been
applied. It's not safe to use the preview pane.

trane
--
//------------------------------------------------------------
// Trane Francks Tokyo, Japan
// Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.
// http://mp3.com/trane_francks/

On 09/22/03 12:39 +0900, Bill Meyers wrote:

Many thanks to all who have replied. Following your suggestions, I found the
preview pane, and once I was in the inbox, OE allowed me to turn it off, after a
couple of tries. I try not to sue OE as my email program but I do have an email address
there in order to use Yahoo.

The next thing, Bill, is to ensure that you drop by Windows
Update regularly and apply all the critical patches. Recommended
updates should be applied selectively. The rest can be
installed/ignored as you see fit.

Finally, all systems with 'net access should be running antivirus
software and personal firewalls. Virus definitions and software
patches should be kept up-to-date on a weekly basis. I reserve
about an hour per week for system maintenance such as checking
the file systems, updating software and DATs, defragging
(critical for maintaining acceptable performance especially on
NTFS volumes).

Firewall software can be considered optional for systems that are
behind hardware routers, such as an ADSL modem configured as a
NAT router. Better examples of these can be configured to
"stealth" ports on their external interface. The firewall
software installed on systems inside the LAN is then used to
monitor how the software on the system is behaving.

Windows users need to also understand that icons in attachments
can be made to not match the file. Generally, it's unsafe to
operate a Windows system with its default setting of hiding known
file extensions. Show all extensions and you can see if that text
file's icon is representing M31.txt or M31.txt.pif (a Windows
"program information file" that acts as an executable). It's also
important to understand that Windows offers NO security against a
specific executable type native to the OS known as a "shell
scrap" file. These files are routinely used by the OS itself to
run maintenance tasks. There is no convenient way to tell Windows
to display the extension for a shell scrap file and, therefore,
these files make for easy execution of virus payload. The only
reliable protection from executing these scripts is to ensure
that your antivirus software is a current version and up-to-date.

All put together sounds inconvenient, but losing a system to one
or more viruses/trojan programs is worse.

I am astonished that a multi-billion dollar corporation like MS can't find a way
to plug all these holes before viruses come through. Maybe as one of our posters said,

The problem is that MS is catering to the "we want it yesterday
and it better be convenient" mentality so prevalent in the
average computer user. ActiveX, in an attempt to one-up Java,
leaves open the barn door. Even worse, thanks to the integration
of the browser into the operating system itself, consumer-grade
Windows (95, 98, Me) executes IE and its child processes in Ring
0 (kernel space instead of user space).

For an average user on mainstream hardware who really only wants
to surf the net and crank out a few letters, a RedHat Linux
installation is painless and secure. Never more will a Windows
user have to suffer through a jerky mouse -- unable to use the
computer -- while Internet Explorer loads a page. You can have
ultra-smooth performance.

For those of us who worry about astronomy, Cartes du Ciel is
being ported to Linux. CCD control software is well under way.
Maxim DL seems to have minimal enough system requirements that it
might run really well in WINE (Windows Emulator) on Linux. I
haven't looked into it. For those who can grok The GIMP, I'm
quite sure that the usual astro-photo processing can be handled
there.

Macs, both old and new, offer pretty much all the security
benefits of Linux, more software and a unique user interface
experience.

Hard-core *NIX geeks can pick up older Sun workstations running
Solaris for a song these days. Solaris can also be had for the
Intel architecture, so PC folk don't need to feel left out.

Some folks might even be happy working on OS/2 or BeOS. I ran
OS/2 for years and loved it. There are lots of choices.


goeth before a fall, in MS's case. I certainly hope something shapes them up soon.

Personally, I only boot Windows for personal use for a couple of
specific apps. Once those apps (or their equivalents) show up
under Linux, my Windows days will be no more but for how I earn
my living.

trane
--
//------------------------------------------------------------
// Trane Francks Tokyo, Japan
// Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.
// http://mp3.com/trane_francks/

On 09/22/03 12:33 +0900, Steve Grant wrote:

Look -- I don't love Microsoft, or its products, or some of its corporate
practices. But an awful lot of nonsense is getting spouted about this
recent worm.

Oddly enough, nothing in that post said anything about this
recent worm. That said, I complete that there is a lot of
misinformation offered by so-called experts. As an example,
saying that Linux is more secure and Windows leaves ports open
gives one the impression that Linux doesn't leave ports open.

I guess none of those guys took a look at netstat to see just how
many ports were open and listening on a default installation of
pretty much any mainstream Linux distribution. These systems can
be locked down, sure, but making a Linux or UNIX system's
external interfaces secure is not something I'd see just anybody
managing. I sure can't imagine *my* grandfather mucking about
with ipchains and the like ...

On the other hand, *NIX systems and their clones really are
inherently more secure than most of the Windows systems out
there. Unless a person is running the Linux box as root, access
rights in the file system are severely crippled for the average
user ID. (NOTE: Avoid the "LINDOWS" distribution as the user
always executes programs as root. This is scary.)

There are ways to make pretty much all systems more secure. That
said, none of the Windows versions can manage it without
third-party software, IMO.

trane
--
//------------------------------------------------------------
// Trane Francks Tokyo, Japan
// Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.
// http://mp3.com/trane_francks/

Florian:
When someone launches an executable by double-clicking an attachment they've
given their permission. Same would happen on a Mac. There just aren't many
Mac viruses.

*****

Ah, tried a Mac back in '64, I see. Double-click an application
installer in Mac OS and you get a prompt for an administrator password.

There aren't as many Mac viruses because viruses couldn't succeed
nearly as well on the vastly more secure Mac platform.

You read my disclaimer I warned you not to do that. Makes me wonder if
you open unknown attachments as well.

--
usenet *at* davidillig dawt com

On 09/22/03 21:18 +0900, John Steinberg wrote:

In other words, even if Dad got hit with an OS X virus that wiped out
all his data -- and, remember, no OS X viruses presently exist -- the
Mac still would operate, and Mom's and Sis's stuff on it would be
untouched.

John, John, John. That's just the misinformation that we don't
want to see spread in the *NIX world. OS X, being a BSD
derivative, is no less prone to the staple "buffer overflow"
exploits than anybody else in the UNIX business. Get the right
length of overflow to execute and you can have root privs on an
OS X system just as easily as any other *NIX or Windows boxen.
It's the nature of that particular exploit.

ALL computer systems are vulnerable to specific types of
exploits. ALL of them. Get the right combination of buffer
overflow and Mom's Visa number is MINE, babe. Ya might want to
run DEC VAX/VMS, but even that has holes.

Windows might be the most vulnerable platform going, but nobody
can boast that any BSD or AT&T UNIX is 9.5/10 impervious to
threat. That's just hype. It takes a LOT more specialization in
the *NIX world to make a system 9.5/10 secure than any mainstream
player has yet managed.

trane
--
//------------------------------------------------------------
// Trane Francks Tokyo, Japan
// Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.
// http://mp3.com/trane_francks/

My suggestion: Dont' use Outlook Express, it is a well-known hacker highway.
However, you might want to look at the information at wilders.org to get tips
and find firewalls, anti virus software, and specific virus protection. Thos
with more experience with Outlook Express may be able to tell you how to
prevent it from opening your mail before you have scanned the headers, however.
I use Wal-Mart connect, which is $9.94 a month and does NOT need or use Outlook
Express. I also use Kerio firewall, AVG anti virus, and do NOT open
attachments to mail unless I am very sure of the sender and whether they are
infected. Kerio and AVG are freeware. Not the best available, but they seem
to work OK. I DO get spam, but I just delete that, and prefer it to getting
worms and viruses....

Clear, Dark, Steady Skies!
(And considerate neighbors!!!)

Opening an email shouldn't infect you so long as you don't launch the =
attachment.

Normally, that is the case, but now some hackers use the embedded image instead
of an attachment, and so can infect you even if you don't open attachments.
Just don't open mail if you do not know who it is from. Wal-Mart Connect has
icons which show me whether there are attachments or embedded images or not. I
just delete and permanently delete any where there are attachments or embedded
images.
Clear, Dark, Steady Skies!
(And considerate neighbors!!!)

I used to use Yahoo, and did NOT need an OE address to use it. However, I also
used SpyBlocker which tended to relieve the ad clutter that comes with Yahoo.
I later quit using Yahoo at all due to the combination of cookies and bugs
used by some of their advertisers, which can be used to give your personal
information to anyone else, including marketers and hackers. I do miss Yahoo,
there were some really good groups there, but they just would not shut off the
spam, bugs, and objectionable ads.

Clear, Dark, Steady Skies!
(And considerate neighbors!!!)

The idea that an operating system would allow a program -- a virus,
worm, or any other program -- to be installed on a computer without
asking the administrator's permission is so outrageous that it boggles
my mind!

Don't be too sure about Linux and other OS'es. The hackers are zeroing in on
those also. Be sure to visit the Microsoft Update site frequently and apply
the important patches.
Clear, Dark, Steady Skies!
(And considerate neighbors!!!)