UnseenMenace said:
1) What mail client do you use... do you consider its standard settings to be safe or have you changed them ?
2) Has your email client ever mailed a virus to someone in your address book ? - How did you feel about this
3) Do you use the protections listed in this article ? If not what do you use to protect yourself
4) Do you allow executables such as .exe, .com, .bat, .src, .pif, .js, .vbs to be sent to you via email ?
5) Are we the users part of the problem with out attitudes towards virus?
6) Can companys producing email software such as Microsoft do more, Should they ?
6) Is the following good advice as suggested by the article? Do you follow it
7) Is Anti-Virus software overated and relied on more than common sence?
8) What is your opinion of the Article ?
1) Mainly Thunderbird, and sometimes Eudora (different mail accounts). They're safe enough for me. I highly recommend
these tests for your mail client to derive how secure it is.
2) Nope. And just a note: my address book is fairly empty. Most email addys I remember off hand, or use the reply to button.
3) Not really. I don't use MS mail clients at home (outlook @ work
), I use an email virus scanner and I don't get email from anyone I don't know (and if it does have an attachement, it will really depend on what it is before I open it. However, there is no "I'm not going to open any attachements" rule in my book.
4) Usually don't get any, but if I know it's coming, from a trusted friend, and my AV software didn't catch it, I see no reason not to.
5) Are users not mad enough at viruses? I don't think that's the issue. I think the issue is that some people are grossly misinformed about viruses and email altogether.
6) I think they have done a lot. A lot of companies that offer email software are usually on the ball about bug and exploit fixes. Microsoft, having the largest market share, and if you pardon my prejudice, the dumbest audience, so they are the biggest target. All email clients have bugs and exploits. Microsoft is being picked on because of the number of infectable boxes is large, and the users are generally dumb. They DO release fixes in a timely manner, like all other software companies, but their users don't always patch.
7) For most people yes, having anti-virus software makes you immune to viruses and stupidity.
8) I believe the article has it's merrits. I think antivirus software took a big hit when it came to SoBig. Mainly because of the false-"your infected" messages. They caused more damage than the virus itself. That only happened because the virus decided to do something different than all other email viruses, change the "from" field. In the past, however, it allowed countless unknowing users to know that they were infected. (And was a good thing until SoBig came along)
Personally, I don't get any spam, or viruses. I didn't get a single copy of SoBig at any of my 4 email accounts. I havn't gotten spam in years. The trick that I've found is to not overly communicate your email address. I've found that
www.sneakemail.com is an invaluable resource when filling out online forms, or the "email address" line on surveys at conventions. Only a tight-knit group of my friends know my email address, and they're smart enough not to (A) hand it out, and (B) get infected with a virus that would hand it out. I also don't post it to any sites or mailing lists.
With that said, I am a firm believer that being smart about email can go a long way. However, it does not replace a virus scanner a good email program, and keeping up to date with updates and patches.
Here's the links again, just incase you skimmed the rest of my post
http://www.gfi.com/emailsecuritytest/
http://www.sneakemail.com/
