From TNPC issue #4.05...

How to Defend Yourself from Bad Things in Your Email

by T.J. Lee
March 8, 2001

To paraphrase the Dormouse, just "use your head."

Sigh... class, let's go over all this once again.

If you get an email attachment that you were not expecting, cannot confirm with the sender, and especially one that looks like a tempting cookie jar just begging to be clicked on, please delete it and get on with your work.

Sheesh, no sooner do we break down and mention the "My b*by pic!!!" Trojan/worm on our Newsworthy page than everyone is all a-twitter about the "Naked W*fe" virus. I hate mentioning them at all because that is, after all, what malware/virus writers want. Recognition. And before you start writing me about the differences between a virus, a Trojan, and a worm, yes, I'm using the terms loosely but the average user thinks of all these entities under the generic term "virus" so let's just stick with that for the moment.

Both "My b*by pic!!!" and "Naked W*fe" replicate by using Outlook, so you could chuck Outlook and use any of a number of alternative email clients that are not susceptible or targeted by "viruses" of these types. But that only deals with the replication factor. Outlook has some incredibly dumb functionality that lets an executable generate emails to everyone in the Outlook address book. So, if you trigger one of these virus programs on your computer you're going to send email bombs to everyone you know. This is all old news after the Melissa virus showed all the malware writers how to do it.

It goes something like this. Someone gets an email with a provocatively named file attachment. They think, "Gee, I wonder what will happen if I double-click on this?" and they touch off the virus. The only creative bit on the part of the virus writer is coming up with a gimmick to get people to run a file on their computer that they really know nothing about.

The good news is that everyone should know better by now. The bad news is that apparently everyone doesn't know better by now. The worse news is that the downside used to be crashing the email server but these new examples trash your local computer files, and therefore your computer as well, after sending themselves off to everyone you have listed in Outlook.

Of the two, "My b*by pic!!!" actually does show you a joke graphic (albeit in very questionable taste). In fact, there are reports of users actually thinking it is soooo funny that they forward it on to their buddies to share the humor. Therefore, this virus is not totally dependent on Outlook for spreading itself. Once your computer is infected it starts corrupting your files.

"Naked W*fe" on the other hand appears to be starting Shockwave Flash and stalls with a "loading" message while it queues up its replication email messages and then starts deleting files in your Windows and System folders.

Here's what you do to protect yourself from this type of drek:

It's that simple. This includes joke files, risqué graphics, files that are scripts, executable files that are disguised to look like text files, and the like. We've all seen amusing graphics but face it, they're not all that amusing. If they're that good they should be up on a Web site were you can go look at it with a browser, not something you have to get via email and run on your local system. And just because you get the file in question from some buddy in Accounting who is always passing around the latest joke file doesn't mean it's not a virus. Your buddy may not know his computer is sending out email bombs or he may be silly enough to unwittingly pass around an infected file. Be skeptical. Be doubly aware of emails you receive with ambiguous subject lines and a "you've just got to see this" feel to them.

To help keep your computer safe, run your virus software and delete files you were not expecting (and don't need).

You can reach T.J. Lee at:
mailto:tj_lee@TheNakedPC.com

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