The Four-eyed Journal » E-mail

Why my pc was never infected by viruses, worms and trojans from email attachments

jhay — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:40:44 +0000

Long before my blogging days, I have always read from the forums I frequented, read from websites and in signs in most internet shops that I should be very careful of any email I receive that has an attachment.

They were right, because back then and even up to now, viruses, worms, trojans and other badware are spread through email via attachments. However I was a bit puzzled. If that were really true, then how come my computer has never been infected by such badware when in fact I had the habit of checking out what those email attachments were. Plus, the rise of email groups which we used in classes to share notes, lectures and readings also needed to have a look at attachments to emails I’ve received.

I’m not kidding, the only way my computer was ever invaded by viruses, et. al were through infected diskettes and later on flash drives from my classmates and friends or from the internet shops I visited. Thankfully, despite the many invasions, my anti-virus programs have successfully fended off any badware that has ever managed to touch my computer.

Still, I was puzzled as to how come there are still reports, stories and warnings about the spread of new destructive viruses via email all over the world? My friends, classmates and teachers were being infected too and even consulted me on what to do once their PCs have been ravaged by badware.

I helped them clean-up their PCs, encouraged them to use the same anti-virus tools and other security apps I use and even repaired the PCs of some of them. Still, they get infections from email attachments.
This prompted me to think deeper into the matter.

Since we were practically using the same set of security apps (AV, firewall and other tools) what else could be considered as a “point-of-vulnerability” or entry on their PCs.

The answer dawned upon me when one of my friends while using my desktop computer asked why Outlook was in such a ‘pristine’ state, he accidentally launched it and the auto-configuration wizard greeted him. I answered, “What is Outlook for anyways?”

Yes, though I’m geek and a blogger, back then I have no idea what Outlook was for. Going back, the conversation went on like this (I’ve already translated it into English and restored it from my half-life memory)

James: You don’t know what Outlook is for? It’s an e-mail client.

Me: What’s an email client?

James: WTF? You’re a geek and you don’t know what an email client is?

Me: Dude, I’m a geek but I did not invent the internet, email or an email client.

James: It’s a program that handles your email for you. With it you don’t have to be online all the time to read and reply to email.

Me: Sounds cool. But why use an email client when I could access my email using a web browser?

James: But you need to be online to do so.

Me: But isn’t that how email works? You need the internet to do email.

James: Not with an email client. Like Outlook, it downloads all you email on your computer so that you can read it even when you’re not connected to the internet. When you make replies to email, it saves it so that when you do get back online it then those replies are sent.

Me: I see. That is neat. But wait, when you say it downloads all your email on your computer does that mean the attachments are included?

James: Of course, what good is an email client if attachments wouldn’t be downloaded as well.

Me: Aha! That’s it!

—–

And that is the “point-of-entry” I’ve been looking for. That’s the explanation why warnings about opening email attachments still prevail to this day. That’s the reason my PCs have never been infected from an email attachment. All this time I’ve been accessing my email directly on the internet where my email providers (Hotmail and then Gmail) were scanning the attachments for me. My ignorance of email clients have been saving me from viruses, worms, trojans and other badware that is the scourge of using computers since time immemorial.

I’ve recently installed Mozilla Thunderbird on my notebook, just to try it out. After a few days, I was back to using Gmail on the web browser. It’s so much better and safer.

Sex Offender E-mail Registry: Will it work?

jhay — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 04:55:44 +0000

Just before this blog had a theme reboot, I blogged about the security of our photos online. Now by ‘security’ I’m not referring to whether our photos would not be destroyed or lost forever thanks to unreliable photo hosting or social media sites or when they suddenly close up shop. The security I’m talking about here is whether the photos we upload online are just viewed by our family, friends and the public, and not used for anything else we might not approve or worse, malign our persons and names.

Meredith, a non-blogger and parent has expressed concern in her comment, saying that she’s looking for a site that offers better privacy for her photos. Another non-blogger, Janet has recommended Pixamo, that according to her has reliable feature that limits access to your photos and videos to certain groups that you identify.

While fellow bloggers Ade and Kat has seen their share of how vulnerable our online photos could be and the horrible effects on innocent victims, Jam and Laice reminds us to be more careful, albeit choosy, as to which photos to upload and which ones to just keep offline.

What’s the point?

Our security and peace of mind. Not to mention, as I’ve pointed out earlier, our reputation, name and very lives. Social media sites, as we are well aware nowadays have not only become online hubs for people from practically every age bracket to meet and socialize, it has also become the new ‘hunting grounds’ or gold mine for sex offenders, stalkers, cyber-bullies and other nasties. The first thing they commonly start with, our very own photos.

An arms race

With the rise of sex-related and other crimes that has stemmed from the internet, law agencies and governments have been struggling to find solutions to stop these cyber-crimes. However, it seems that technology, the internet and people with really bad intentions are always managing to get one step ahead of law elements.

One such effort is from New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo who announced a proposed new state legislation to protect underage Internet users. The measure is called “Electronic Security and Targeting of Online Predators Act or E-STOP.

E-STOP requires paroled sex offenders to submit their e-mail addresses and online identities to a central registry that will be used to deny them access to social networking sites. The bill also would forbid sex offenders, on parole or probation, from communicating online with anyone under the age of 18 if the offender is classified level 3 (high-risk of re-offending) or if the offender’s crime involved the Internet or a minor.

An Achilles’ Heal

The proposed legislation is a good measure, I think only for its intents and purposes. However, it’s effectiveness is in question as one can easily see that there’s one critical flaw with it: Anyone can register for a new e-mail address and switch among them as easy as changing one’s underwear.

If I were a sex-offender and my e-mail address, online identity, alias etc. is on the said state registry of online baddies, I’d just get a new one. It’s so easy to create a new identity online nowadays thanks to again, technology itself.

Another flaw with E-STOP is that it could be abused, say I use a friend or just make-up an e-mail address once the authorities ask for it or a website that integrates online features of E-STOP, and presto! I just fooled the system and the poor guy whose email I just used is now a member of the cyber-baddies club.

So what now?

Let’s work together. Both the online public, the social media sites and governments to combat cyber-crimes. Parents should continue and actively get involved in the way their children use the internet, especially if they are minors. Remember, the “Parental Guidance” idea is not limited to TV viewing.

Teens and young adults, the bulk of online users and victims of these cyber-crimes must think twice before uploading photos, videos even text to the blogs and social media sites. Use the site’s privacy and security features to the max, you’re old enough to know that every decision you make will have consequences.

As for the government, any government, it must really exert effort to know the internet and the technologies involved with it so that measures, laws and policies are effective, practicable and sound. It’s high time to get out of the Jurassic age and into the Web 2.0 world. After all, what are we citizens paying taxes for?

Have your say

Having said enough at this point, I’d like to hear from you dear readers what you think and what do you do keep yourself safe and the internet a safer place to be in. Stay safe!

Top 5 of emails, free softwares, online apps and much more

jhay — Thu, 10 May 2007 10:31:46 +0000

Yey! I made it to the latest group writing project by ProBlogger with the theme of ‘Top 5‘ in which bloggers can join by writing a post about their own ‘Top 5′ of almost anything they want, like, love or even hate. If you join this group writing project and you’re really lucky, Darren Rowse will pick you to win a generous amount of $1001 USD all thanks to Chitika.

A fun aspect of this group writing gig is that it gives an opportunity to go on a good blog-hopping spree as participants visit, comment, link to and subscribe to others who have joined the project as well. It’s the very essence of blogging, social-media and web 2.0 rolled in one neat package.

For my share, here’s my pick of the most notable Top 5 posts belonging to the Day 3 of this group writing project.

Top 5 Web 2.0 Collaboration Tools by Tac Anderson – A nice list of some uber cool and useful collab tools on the web.

Top 5 Mistakes Made When Naming Your Website or Company by Alden DoRosario – Learn from the Chitika team themselves on how to make a good investment by choosing wisely what to name your website or company.

Top 5 Free Webmail Services by Brennan Monaco – Gmail sits on top of this list of which I strongly agree with. Gmail rocks, Yahoo! could do more, Hotmail should really get things moving and here’s something I’ve never heard before and so I’m going to give it a try, Inbox.com

My top 5 online productivity apps by Shawn Wallace – Nothing too fancy here, just apps that boost your productivity. Google Calendar deserves its spot in this list. Do check it out!

Top 5 Free Software You Should Be Using by Kyle Eslick – as expected Firefox and OpenOffice are included in this list of FREE softwares. Go have a look at it, try out or simply switch to those softwares mentioned, they are really good and did we mentioned it’s FREE?!

The five best movie car chases of all time by Will Thompson – Awesome car chases from some of the biggest movies from Hollywood. It includes the Matrix and Gone in 60 seconds. If it were up to me, I’d include the wild car chase in Bad Boys II. That movie certainly proved the power and suave smoothness of the Ferrari 550.

My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers by Gerard McGarry – This list is quite impressive and a worthy addition to your feed reader. Just visit them, and you’d be very thankful.

Top 5 ways to display your RSS Feed Subscription Link on your blog by Shankar Ganesh – A great list of tips in increasing your RSS subscribers plus it leads to a nice site where you could create your own stick-it notes for your blog!

This is but a small sample of the hundreds of nice and juicy Top 5 lists in this group writing project by ProBlogger. Have a look for yourselves and you’d have a grand time.

Sweden out to bust our privacy

jhay — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 23:26:40 +0000

This is one of the most ridiculous and revolting news I’ve ever read since I heard that Cesar Montano and Manny Pacquiao are running in the upcoming May elections in our country.

Sweden seeks telecoms monitoring

Sweden’s government has presented a bill to give its defence intelligence agency powers to monitor any e-mail or phone call into or out of the country.

The fact that the idea came from the Swedes is even more surprising. I’ve come to think of their government and people as amongst the few who really value, protect and promote basic human rights like the freedom of speech and the privacy of one’s communication. Right Uncle Sam?

As if adding insult to injury, they even had this to say:

The government says conversations within Sweden would remain untouched.

Oh sure, protect your own citizens’ privacy, but what about the rest of the worlds’?

We took so much, spent and continue to spend so much just to protect our privacy especially over the internet and here comes a proposal to monitor global flow of communication that happens to pass by Sweden without a court order?!

They may argue that it’s their territory and its their servers and communication facilities but it doesn’t mean that they can just pry into our e-mails and listen into our phone calls just because it happens to pass by through their country.

What will the Swedish government gain from this? If they are under the threat of terrorism then they could, but still under lawful means, tap in our communications then again are they under threat? Hmm…they could’ve been listening too much to what Bush and Blair has been blabbering about ever since 9/11, but then I still think the Swedes are too smart for that.

Speaking of smart people, these plastic surgeons from the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery which is one of the world’s largest specialty association that represents over 2,700 facial plastic and reconstructive surgeons throughout the world. AAFPRS members are board certified surgeons whose focus is surgery of the face, head, and neck. AAFPRS members subscribe to a code of ethics.

A cure for spam: rated e-mails?

jhay — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 15:07:06 +0000

I’ve been following an issue over at Problogger.net wherein Darren Rowse became a victim of a spammer who hijacked his domain and used it to send spam through his newsletter. I did not receive any spam from Darren so it’s either I’m among the lucky few whom the spammers missed or I’m no longer subscribed to the Problogger newsletter.

As always, Darren has managed to turn something disastrous like this into something positive by sharing the lessons he has learned from it.

Those lessons are indeed valuable to us but the problem remains at large; spammers are still out there or rather still reaching our inbox and making our lives miserable. Worst, they’re making money out of our human misery.

So what to do?

The comment thread over at Problogger has some interesting solutions in combating spam, but the one that caught my full attention was a suggestion by Kimber. She proposes the following:

Spamâ€¦wellâ€¦spam, like direct mail and telemarketing, works. The biggest issue with spam is that its so blasted inexpensive to use. You want to limit spam? Put a cost on sending emails.

The emphasis is mine and that’s exactly what I’m talking about as it got me thinking. What if we do just that, charge everyone else for every e-mail they would send just like how SMS messages are charged. This way we could control the spread of spam or even the spread of non-commercial but still junk e-mail around cyberspace.

Sadly it would mean the end of free e-mail as we know it. Or would it?

Hold on though, the service could still remain free, but we would then be charged on a per-message-sent basis. Say one successfully sent e-mail would be charged a measely $0.02? Would that be too much? I’m just trying to play with this idea of Kimber to know the possibilities and its effects, even to come up with more solutions to spam.

Question now is, would we be willing to pay for every e-mail we send just to get rid of spam?