Worm problems

[Kathy]

I posted to this newgroup for the first time last week.
Since that time I have been bombarded with e-mails
containing the Swen worm. The worm is not resident on my
computer, but apparently some other infected machine is
continually sending me e-mails. I suspect that my post on
this newgroup is what made me the target of this worm as
no other computer user in my organization is receiving
these messages.

Is anyone else on this newgroup having this problem?
Is there a way to delete my post to reduce my
susceptibility to this worm? Any help you can give me
would be appreciated. -- Kathy

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If you expose your email address anywhere, you will be subject to getting
spam. It just happens that Swen is especially targeting newsgroups. If you
don't want to receive such messages, then you should spamproof (spoof) your
posting address (both From and Reply To and anything in your signature). The
bots that collect email addresses are pretty adept at interpreting "at" and
"dot" and removing NOSPAM and REMOVETHIS insertions, but you can add
something else to munge the address. I'm told that adding it after the @
rather than before is more effective, since it guarantees that your ISP will
not get the mail, either.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Kathy]

okay. Thanks for the info. Just curious--why is the e-
mail address requested?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Requested where?

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

Hi Suzanne,

In the CDO interface to the NG's

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[&:-jesse\)]

Kathy,

You asked why is one's email requested if providing it
here subjects one to a spam attack? My guess is the low-
life spammers continue looking for new and better ways of
attempting to draw attention. Sort of like an adolescent
troubled child thing.

Keep in mind that though microsoft is requiring that
user's enter something for an email address, that there is
no error checking method to ensure that you have entered
your actual email address. My advice, don't enter an
actual address unless you want to invite a spam attack.
This is something that microsoft must do to protect it's
users. One can only hope that soon there will be systems
in place that prevent mindless spam, and a way to
prosecute and fine those that do it.

So, don't use an actual email address. And why do they ask
for it now? Good question, and it would be better asked of
Microsoft staff!

jesse

 

[phil]

the swen worm may ask for email address when active.

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/[email protected]

Phil