Re: [anti-spam-wg@localhost] oh dear? Doom
- Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 15:25:39 -0500 (EST)
> [...] it all started on 14 Jan when I send a word doc to a friend who
> replied thus:
>> Anthony, I couldn't open your other file, it is in Unicode (??).
> [...] Now I recall her commenting recently that her compute had a
> virus. Did I give it to her? How?
> She says "other" file, I sent only one.. as far as I am aware.
One of the recent Windows malware variants carries its payload attached
to a plain text portion saying "The message contains Unicode characters
and has been sent as a binary attachment.". It's possible - likely,
even, I would say, in view of the symptoms - that you had the bad luck
to be forged into the from-line of an infection attempt using that text
and the recipient was fooled.
I really wonder how long it will take Darwinian forces to eliminate
"Windows users with little to no computer clue" (the primary focus of
such malware) from the net. (Not that I care per se, but my mailbox is
flooded with the results of their presence, or would be except that I
made the time to make my SMTP server reject most of them.)
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