Has anyone else gotten an e-mail from microsoft?

[CAT]

I've got two e-mails from microsoft titled "Use this patch immediately"... Is this for real? I haven't opened them since they have an attachment but I'm wondering if they're ligit.

I just found it weird that they had my e-mail at yahoo when the computer is in hubby's name and he didn't get one on his different e-mail host.

[tdwyatt]

heh! someone looking to screw your system. go to www.microsoft.com for the 9 patches they just made available and download ythem from there, here is a link to the C|NET article on the patches:

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6600_7-5072211.html

Lots of folks out there trying to take advantage of the microsoft flaws. Microsoft will NEVER contact you with a patch unless you have subscribed to their security update service.

hth, don't even open it.


__________________

[CAT]

Thanks for the info Tom. After the last virus that overloaded my e-mail with hundreds of messages, I ain't opening anything with an attachment unless I know who it's from

I'll check out the MS site.

[Doug1]

I got that last week, Norton scan showed it has a virus I never heard of. I asked on here and everyone said Microsoft doesn't email the public(I dont subscribe) so it was deleted immediatly

[asmith]

Even if you do get something from Microsoft, it will not have a patch or attachment. It would simply tell you go to their site to download the patches or updates.

Andrew

[tdwyatt]

Virus battles from C|Net:
A new e-mail worm spread quickly, taking advantage of an Internet Explorer vulnerability that was first disclosed two years ago. The bug, which has been alternately dubbed Swen and Gibe.F, appears to exploit a flaw that Microsoft first disclosed in a March 2001 security bulletin.

The worm masquerades as an e-mail that purports to be a security update from Microsoft and is programmed to send an official-looking e-mail that says it contains a "cumulative patch" for several Internet Explorer, Outlook and Outlook Express vulnerabilities. The virus turns on file sharing--if it is not already turned on--and creates a shared directory with multiple copies of itself under various file names.

As the new worm was spreading, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer warned that recent security vulnerabilities represent a "new and growing challenge to innovation." He conceded that his company is under attack from "thieves, con artists, terrorists and hackers." In response, the software giant plans to develop new means for thwarting such attackers and aims to shut down the invasions before they wreak the havoc seen with recent viruses such as MSBlast.

"The most important technology area we are focused on is shield technology," Ballmer said in a speech to the Churchill Club, a forum of Silicon Valley businesspeople. "We know bad guys keep writing viruses. The goal is to block them before they get on PCs."

On another front, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is teaming with the Net's top virus-tracking facility to create an organization to fight cyberbugs. The partnership with Carnegie Mellon University's CERT Coordination Center is intended to create a new group that would work to prevent, monitor and respond to "cyberattacks" across the Internet.

The new organization hopes to jump-start communication between companies, security researchers, networks and other entities affected by digital security problems, many of which have historically been loath to share detailed information on break-ins by hackers, software vulnerabilities or other security problems.

see: this related news link

[tdwyatt]

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6600_7-5078675.html

[Jeremy1973]

I have been getting tons of those emails... like the others said, MS would have you go to their site, not send it to you personally. One day, I got that email 20 times.

[Imaexpat2]

First off Microsoft doesnt e-mail customers unless you e-mail them first! If you get an unsolicited e-mail "from" microsoft...assume its a virus in no uncertain terms. There are a number of these going around of late that are just as you described. This is a great way to prompagate a virus as most people aint got the common sense that God gave even a ...mule(its the most politest word I could think of without getting beat up for not being PC)! If you "need" an update from Microsoft...its on thier webpage, not your e-mail.

[CAT]

Well, whoever it is, they're persistent. I'm still getting the same e-mail over and over again -- just deleted one before I signed on here...

Thanks for the link, Tom.

[Doug1]

yah I get it at least every other day

[tdwyatt]

c|net news for microsoft

[cath]

oh yes! I got one at work, and one of the systems guys came to my desk and told me to delete it.