Fife Schools Technology

Our district was hit with another email virus barrage this morning. Fortunately, most were stopped by our filters. Unfornuately, a couple of emails got through and one of our computers managed to become infected. The virus was contained in an attachment and the computer became infected when the attachment was opened.

The thing about email viruses now a days is that they usually don’t infect unless the recipient does something with the email (other than just to delete it). But sometimes it can be hard to distinguish a legitimate email from a fake. In today’s example, the email posed as a UPS package tracking notification.

So what are some ways to distinguish a legitiamte email from a fake? Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• Are you expecting this email?
• Does the email ask you to open an attachment or click a link?
• Are there any unprofessional elements in the email such as spelling or grammar problems that an email from a legitimate company would not have?
• Is the email trying to grab your attention and create a sense of urgency?
• Is the email sufficiently vague that it could apply to anyone reading it?
• Is the sending email address not from the official company email address?

If you have any doubt whatsoever, it is best to delete the email and contact the company through legitimate channels. So, in the case of today’s UPS virus email, it would be best to delete the email and then visit the UPS website and enter a tracking number there rather than open an attachment or click a link in the email.

Some nefarious types are capitalizing on the election news and have created an email posing as an interview with Barack Obama. It contains links to a virus. It is new enough that anti-virus software is not picking it up. We are doing our best to configure the filter to stop it but just in case, please be cautious.

As always, never open suspicious emails or click on links in emails unless you are confident they are legitimate.

For more info, visit the websense description: http://securitylabs.websense.com/content/Alerts/3229.aspx 

Let us know if you have questions.