Emails carrying viruses
This is the main thing people think of when considering security issues with emails. There are three main things to do here.
- Have a good, regularly updated, anti-virus program. See Anti-Virus for more info
- Be wary opening emails from people you don't know.
- Never open attachments you're not expecting.
The anti-virus part should be obvious. Opening emails from sources you don't know should be done with caution; you don't know what the email contains and just opening some html emails can cause the fact that you opened them to be registered. Outlook 2003 protects from this by refusing to process any html which tries to get information from the web until you approve it. This is a good, useful feature.
The attachments subject is more serious. Attachments can be almost anything. Malicious attachments can look like one thing but actually be another. There is typically an enticing message in the email which encourages you to open the attachment. However the attachment is really a program which spreads some sort of virus. Your anti-virus program will get most of these before they can do any harm but there remains the chance of a very new virus catching it out, so be careful. What if the email is from a friend? Consider the possibility that your friend's computer has a virus and it is the virus which is sending the email. Does the email look "right" for them? Are you expecting this email with attachment? If not, be careful. It's easy enough to send them an email asking if they actually sent this. If in doubt, delete the email. If it was genuine your friend can always resend it.
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