Amazon

FAQ

A few Frequently Asked Questions...

1.    I've received an unknown Word/Excel/Zip file from a company (I don't know/I know), Why?

Spammers are using a technique called a joe job.  This is used by spammers to sends out unsolicited e-mails using spoofed sender data. and typically used by commercial spammers to conceal the true origin of their messages.

The spammers normally get your email address from large lists of "good, active email addresses" via leaked account databases, fake "un-subscribe" links or just generated randomly.

Email "From:" address can be faked, so they look they they can come from anywhere.


2.   Where did the email really come from?

Email headers can help show you were the actual email was sent from.

           Example 1
Received: from 75-147-72-225-philadelphia.hfc.comcastbusiness.net (75-147-72-225-Philadelphia.hfc.comcastbusiness.net [75.147.72.225])
    by plf-01.xxx.co.uk (Postfix) with ESMTP id C5D2A1E530D
    for ; Thu, 15 Jan 2015 10:07:28 +0000 (GMT)
From: Invoice from Hexis
Subject: Invoice
          Broomall, United States [75.147.72.225]

          Example 2
Received: from [85.183.3.74] (unknown [85.183.3.74])
    by plf-01.keele.netcentral.co.uk (Postfix) with ESMTP id CC8081E5337
    for ; Thu, 15 Jan 2015 10:06:58 +0000 (GMT)
From: Invoice from Hexis
Subject: Invoice
         Hamburg, Germany [85.183.3.74]
   
     Example 3
Received: from ppp-18-180.20-151.libero.it (ppp-18-180.20-151.libero.it [151.20.180.18])
    by plf-01.xxx.co.uk (Postfix) with ESMTP id A0FD81E5304
    for ; Thu, 15 Jan 2015 10:07:25 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: Payment request of 1948.78 (14 JAN 2015)
         Milan, Italy [151.20.180.18]


3.   Will Word/Excel malware document infected my Apple, Android, Blackberry device?
Currently, iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android, Blackberry and Windows's phone won't be infected,
if you open the Word/Excel documents, as the Macro's inside them either:

a) Won't run
b) If they did run, the downloaded file won't run on the above operating systems

It's worth remembering though, that if use use any of the above devices and foward to a Windows user,
you may end up infecting them.


4.   Will Word/Excel malware document infected my Windows pc?

It depends:

  • If you've received the email but not clicked on the Word/Excel document (you should be ok)
  • If you've received the email but clicked on the Word/Excel document, you might be ok,
    if you
    have macro disabled (see below post)
  • If you've received the email but clicked on the Word/Excel document, it might be worth running
    a virus scan (see Online Scanners from top menu)
  • If you've received the email but clicked on the Word/Excel document but use
    LibreOffice/Openoffice, you might be ok.

5.  How do I disable Macros?


          In Office/Excel, use the following short cut:
Alt T (and then release)

Press o
Prsss t

Alt T (and then release)

Trust Center

Make Sure this option at least is selected



Might be worth disabling this option too...



Microsoft also has a good overview of Macro Security, which you can find here.

1 comment:

Orlith said...

Hi
Are you interested in getting emails unlisted in your blog, having malicious files or link inside ?

If yes, how to ?

Thx