Like most people, you probably receive more than your share of email.  While sorting out irritating junk mail from useful correspondence you might come across one that claims a message you sent was not delivered.  Since this does happen on occasion, either because of server problems or the recipient's address has changed, you are quite naturally inclined to investigate a bit further and see why the message was returned.  DON'T do any such thing until you are certain that you know or sent out a message to the individual listed.  And even under those circumstance, proceed with extreme caution.  

The following example is but one of many variations used by others to make your life miserable.  The only hard and fast rule you need to remember from this article is this:

Here's an example of one of many versions of this virus spreading activity:

From: postmaster@co.gloucester.nj.us
Date:  12 Feb 03:53 (PST)
To:  Your email address
Subject:  Delivery Status Notification (Failure)

Content-Type: multipart/report; report-type=delivery-status;
boundary="9B095B5ADSN=_01C3EB63A9124A8600004DE0COURTMAIL.co.glo"
Message-Id: <cFF6llbB500000b48@COURTMAIL.co.gloucester.nj.us>
X-Received: 12 Feb 2004 11:55:27 GMT
Return-Path: <> Received: (cpmta 26408 invoked from network); 12 Feb 2004 03:55:27 -0800 Received: from 209.66.25.13 (HELO COURTMAIL.co.gloucester.nj.us)
by smtp.c014.snv.cp.net (209.228.35.68) with SMTP; 12 Feb 2004 03:55:27 -0800 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Dsncontext: 335a7efd - 4457 - 00000001 - 80040546

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification.

 Delivery to the following recipients failed.  alice@co.gloucester.nj.us

If you don't recognize the address that appears in the message, delete the email and do not open it under any circumstances.

 Attachments:

ATT1.txt   (0.2 k)    ATT2.txt (1 k)
(Files contain unreadable code) 

 zip
Open this file and you have just infected your computer with a virus known as the W32Mydoom.A@mm, or any other of the unending array of destructive viruses.

SURVIVAL TIPS   Do not trust the icons of attachment file. (such as,        and others). Worms often send executable files which have an icon resembling icons of picture, text or archive files - to fool the user. Never accept attachments from strangers in online chat systems such as IRC, ICQ or AOL Instant Messenger. Avoid downloading files from public newsgroups (Usenet news). These are often used by virus writers to distribute their new viruses. Never open e-mail attachments with the file extensions VBS, SHS or PIF. These extensions are almost never used in normal attachments but they are frequently used by viruses and worms. Never open attachments with double file extensions such as NAME.BMP.EXE or NAME.TXT.VBS VIRUS PROTECTION Purchasing virus protection and installing it on your computer isn't enough. You must update your virus protection on a weekly (if not daily basis). New viruses are discovered every day and in order for the virus software to be able to detect and clean new viruses you must update a special file called the "dat" file. FREE VIRUS PROTECTION PROGRAMS If you have a system that does not have virus protection on it and you cannot afford to purchase it, here are some free programs: AVG Antivirus - A free fully functional anti-virus program. AntiVir Personal Edition - Free Anti-Virus software. MailWasher - A small utility that allows you to check email on your server and helps to eliminate spam. The program detects possible viruses on the server and highlights them in red so you can easily identify messages containing viruses and delete them.                                   RELATED ARTICLE:  Email Hoaxes

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