Email, although one of our more common means of electronic communication, is one of the most targeted mechanisms for virtual electronic terrorism. The "weapon" of choice is the virtual virus, literally attacking and destroying your computer or workstation, address books, and distribution lists before moving onto another's computer. Some of these viruses are triggered by date and time, others through specific software. The unwary user often fosters this virus by unknowingly passing this along to a friend or colleague via email. This week's Technology Tip of the Week will demonstrate one of a series of techniques to help guard against unwanted viruses.

Tip #31: Email Viruses Part I – Look before you Leap

DEFINITIONS:  

Virus: In the virtual world, a virus is a piece of software specifically designed to corrupt, destroy, add to or delete from a host computer.

Host computer: A computer containing a virus.

Anti-Virus Software: Software that is designed to locate virus "signatures" and eliminate the virus. These signatures must be updated regularly to guard against the latest viruses.

When you receive an email with an attachment, the attachment tab is enabled and active. By clicking on that tab to receive the attachment, the following screen is available, displaying the attachment information as well as information relative to getting the attachment to you. We are only interested in the attachment itself.

The attachment shown in the previous diagram appears to be a harmless Word document and perhaps it is but we want to be sure it contains no virus that can launch if we start Word! To prevent a potential virus from launching, especially in attachments:

NEVER OPEN THE ATTACHMENT DIRECTLY!

Pegasus, like many other email software packages, allows you to Save your attachment before viewing. This allows your workstation to check for viruses before they [the viruses] have the opportunity to do any damage.

To ensure a safe opening of your attachment, click on the Save button and save the attachment to your home directory.

The anti-virus software on the network will check for any viruses once the attachment is saved and launched. You can now safely open your attachment (Word in this case) without fear that something else will be destroyed. Perhaps more importantly, you can be sure that if you decide to forward this file as an attachment to someone else, you have done so free of viruses!

This week's tip submitted by Barbara Capralos and David Kovar