SCOUG-HELP Mailing List Archives

<< Previous Message << >> Next Message >>

Date:	Tue, 23 Sep 2003 19:47:36 PDT7
From:	Peter Skye <pskye@peterskye.com >
Reply-To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
Subject:	SCOUG-Help: Rejected messages that I never sent

Content Type: text/plain

=====================================================
If you are responding to someone asking for help who
may not be a member of this list, be sure to use the
REPLY TO ALL feature of your email program.
=====================================================

Ray Davison wrote:
>
> multiples of the incoming messages below plus
> others from "Administrator" or some such sender.
>
> The implication is that someone is using my
> machine to send messages. If so, how?

Ray,

Since last Friday I've been getting about two per hour. I am *also*
getting "Microsoft Security Update" notices (the name changes a lot)
telling me to install the attached patch, which is an ongoing
replication of the Swen virus.

If you aren't running Windows or an SMTP server then somebody else is
simply using your email address in their From field or a virus on their
machine is reading their address book or (typically) the last-received
message in their inbox (which could be a mail list posting from you) to
get a random From address.

I've tried tracing these darn things and they appear to be coming from
everywhere. Of interest is the Message-ID which you can check against
the lowest (first) Received line in the header. The Message-ID field
contains a date-time stamp plus the name of the originating SMTP server.

I've even gotten these bounceback messages from auto-reply machines such
as people on vacation and tech support departments ("We'll respond as
soon as possible.") and I even got one from a mail list server that
tried to interpret the lines as commands.

So you're not alone. I just delete them, hoping Swen will die down in a
few more days. The "Microsoft Security Update" notices are the biggest
pain since each one is 155K and, at two per hour, my 10 MB inbox fills
up in a day or so.

- Peter

=====================================================

To unsubscribe from this list, send an email message
to "steward@scoug.com". In the body of the message,
put the command "unsubscribe scoug-help".

For problems, contact the list owner at
"rollin@scoug.com".

=====================================================

Return to [ 23 | September | 2003 ]

SCOUG, Warp Expo West, and Warpfest are trademarks of the Southern California OS/2 User Group. OS/2, Workplace Shell, and IBM are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. All other trademarks remain the property of their respective owners.