The problem is approximately 18" in front of the screen...

[lostcarpark]

Several new variants of some of the fastest spreading computer viruses have recently appeared. The interesting thing about them is that they're avoiding email virus scanners by hiding in password protected Zip archives, with instructions to open them with the password specified in the body of the message.

Now you'd think that by now users should be suspicious of viruses in attachments, and if a random stranger sends you an encrypted, password protected Zip file asking you to open it, enter the password, and run the executable inside, you might think twice about it.

But if the amount of virus email I've been getting in the last couple of days is anything to go by, it would seem that the message still isn't getting through to an awful lot of users. Network managers and administrators have been trying to drum into their users "don't open attachments", but clearly when told to do something by an email message, far too many of us will blindly follow.

We can be critical of Microsoft for leaving holes in Windows, but in this case the blame falls solidly at the feet of users (and managers for not getting through to their users).

I'm sure it won't take virus scanners long to catch up, and will learn how to find passwords in message bodies, but until the end users learn not to trust anything in an email attachment, the virus writers will always have the advantage.

Comments

[ang-grrr.livejournal.com]

The message actually said "information" and as I had earlier told the same person that they could email me for further details about something I opened it without really thinking about it.

Which was the problem. I didn't even look at what type of attachment it was.

Ultimately it was my inattention that was to blame but, and this is the point I was trying to make, any of us can have an off day.

[lostcarpark.livejournal.com]

I'm hopeful that current efforts will lead to an end of email address spoofing (making it more or less impossible to send an email with a from address that's not part of the server you're sending it from). This will make this sort of thing a lot harder (so when a friend has a virus, it will only be able to send emails from their address, meaning we can warn them when we receive them). But at the end of the day, user vigilence is essential. But yes, we all have our off days.