Just by viewng an email-can you get a virus?

AndyPix

Fightsback wrote: »

Are you familiar with subtext and literal meaning ?

lolz yes of course - i do think the average layman reading this thread though doesnt need to be alarmed by this.
As a general rule of thumb i would say that it is safe to open emails, but be wary of acting on any of the content.


You are right - threats change .. but currently, i know of no infection vector that acts simply by the user opening an email. I suspect half the planet would be part of a botnet if this were the case.

Fightsback

AndyPix wrote: »

I suspect half the planet would be part of a botnet if this were the case.

There are still a lot of XP users out there.

PEBKAC, no amount of security will fix that one.

AndyPix

PEBKAK love it ..


Yes, there will always be stupid users and clever scammers.
Social engineering is far more of a threat to be concerned about and discussing, rather than the infintecimal chance you could be infected by OPENING an email.


"There are still a lot of XP users out there."


Bless them

AndyPix

Explained better than i can : http://www.howtogeek.com/135546/htg-explains-why-you-cant-get-infected-just-by-opening-an-email-and-when-you-can/

debitcardmayhem

Ok click here for virus
Bless you (mind you this is apparently a male i.e. man virus, not a mail virus i.e. not female) :cool:

Robisere

There is an ongoing threat to PayPal users (like me) by black hats who are currently sending out spoof emails, changing IP's and addresses constantly. I have forwarded one this week to spoof@paypal.co.uk

That was just one of 3 I have had this year. Opening it would possibly open my PC to attack: why would I do that? Instead I right click the email and "View Source". As I already know what the real PayPal address should look like, I check that and see that it is false. Then I forward it to PayPal, who need to know as much as possible about these scumbags, in order to find and prosecute them. I place it in Junk and right click again, then Block the address.

I don't take chances; if there is even a faint possibility that my PC will be infected, I don't open it. What some see as 'Alarmist' I see as commonsense.

andygb

I check EVERY email nowadays, because I have been the victim of "spoofing", where you open an email purportedly from a known contact, and then it infects your sytem and sends emails to all your email contacts - not very nice emails I should add.
There are lots of clever people out there, and they do not always use their talents for legitimate uses.

Geodark

Fightsback wrote: »

There are still a lot of XP users out there.

PEBKAC, no amount of security will fix that one.

I use that quite a bit at work, along with PICNIC problem, and organic interface problem :rotfl:

Mirno

Recently Google's Project Zero found a bug in some anti-virus software that would allow code to execute (at Ring 0 no less) if a malformed zip file were sent to a victim.
Because the scanner runs before the email is viewed, it could infect a machine before you actually got to read it yourself...
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/project-zero/issues/detail?id=820

AndyPix

Mirno wrote: »

Recently Google's Project Zero found a bug in some anti-virus software that would allow code to execute (at Ring 0 no less) if a malformed zip file were sent to a victim.
Because the scanner runs before the email is viewed, it could infect a machine before you actually got to read it yourself...
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/project-zero/issues/detail?id=820

Just another reason to stay away from Notron (as if you need one)