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Date:         Thu, 29 Apr 2004 18:32:13 -0700
Reply-To:     Jim Arnott <jrasite@EONI.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jim Arnott <jrasite@EONI.COM>
Subject:      Re: Strange post from L-Soft list server at Vanagon List (1.8d)
              <LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <001901c42e4b$52c19620$97f5db0c@MAIN>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; format=flowed

I wasn't going to bomb the whole list with an answer to an off-topic question but since this will otherwise take on a life of its own and it

is Frydaye GMT, here's what's really happening with such messages:

Virus spoofing

Email-distributed viruses that use spoofing, such the Klez or Sobig virus, take a random name from somewhere on the infected person’s hard

disk and mail themselves out as if they were from that randomly chosen

address. Recipients of these viruses are therefore misled as to the address from which they were sent, and may end up complaining to, or alerting the wrong person. As a result, users of uninfected computers may be wrongly informed that they have, and have been distributing a virus.

And the bounce messages, like what you received, come back to the spoofed address.

If you receive an alert that you’re sending infected emails, first run

a virus scan using McAfee or NAV) or use an on-line scan such as Trend

Micro's Housecall <http://housecall.trendmicro.com>. If you are uninfected, then you may want to reply to the infection alert with this

information:

“Your virus may have appeared to have been sent by me, but I have scanned my system and I am not infected. A number of email-distributed

viruses fake, or spoof, the ‘From' address using a random address taken from the Outlook contacts list or from Web files stored on the hard drive.”

Don't bother. It just clogs up the Internet. See next paragraph.

But keep in mind that a virus alert message is quite often auto generated and sent via an anti-virus server and so replying to the original email may not elicit a response.

Alternatively, if you receive an email-distributed virus, look at the Internet Headers information to see where the email actually originated

from, before firing off a complaint or virus alert to the person you assume sent it.

Because that person probably didn't.

Can we learn to use Google? Can we get back to VWs now?

Jim Arnott Technical Support Eastern Oregon Net, Inc.


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