Email Virus
New Security Threat
Coming to an inbox near you!
This week, we have received numerous emails, which were either actual viruses or spyware related. Therefore, we wanted to remind you to always be vigilant and keep your eyes opened and be cautious to what emails you open.
Continue reading to learn:
– How does it happen?
– How does the virus get into your computer?
– How do you detect it?
– Why doesn’t the anti-virus program stop it?
How does it happen?
The sender can unintentionally send out the email due to numerous circumstances. Below are some of the ways a contact sends out an “email virus”:
– The sender received an infected email and clicked on the link
– The sender logs into his email by an infected computer, which steals his password
– The sender went to an infected website, which infects the computer and the next time the user logs in to his email, it gets infected
How does the virus get into your computer?
The way the virus gets into your computer, is by selecting the link on the email, which is in fact a download to the virus. Once the virus is downloaded, your computer is now infected and you may be the cause for the spread of the virus. How? The virus accesses your email and contact list and sends out emails with the link to the virus from your email account.
How do you detect a bad email?
There are many variations to these emails, however the overall concept is that when an email comes in from a contact which looks suspicions, do not click on the links.
What constitutes looking suspicious?
– The spelling and/or grammar is incorrect
– You are not expecting an email from the contact
– You HOVER the mouse over the link and see the destination of the link (most probably it is not to a proper site).
Why doesn’t the anti-virus program stop it?
The actual email is generally not the virus, rather it is the link which is in the email. Therefore the anti-virus program would not alert when you the email comes in.
What can they look like?
If it is a legitimate email, then the link should be docs.google.com and the email would look like the below image:
However, if it not a legitimate email, then you may see something along these lines:
As always, if you have any questions or concerns,
feel free to call us at 718-676-6910
