| An e-mail virus is computer code sent to you as an e-mail
note attachment which, if activated, will cause some unexpected and usually
harmful effect, such as destroying certain files on your hard disk and causing
the attachment to be remailed to everyone in your address book. Although
not the only kind of computer virus, e-mail viruses are the best known and
undoubtedly cause the greatest loss of time and money overall. The best
two defenses against e-mail viruses for the individual user are (1) a policy
of never opening (for example, double-clicking on) an e-mail attachment
unless you know who sent it and what the attachment contains, and (2) installing
and using anti-virus software to scan any attachment before you open it.
(However, some e-mail viruses may be so new when your receive them that
your anti-virus software may not yet be familiar with it.) Business firewall
servers also attempt, but not always successfully, to filter out e-mail
that may carry a virus attachment. |
