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Originally Posted by oldtimer
That is absolutely incorrect as Martian & ngdawg clearly pointed out. And that makes me pissed as A LOT of people follow your thinkin'. Opening attachments is NOT the only way to contract a virus. Believe it or not there was a exploit in the picture file type of WMF [Windows Meta file] that will surreptitiously download crap onto your computer w/o any form of notification or prompt. There are different methods other than attachments by embedding in emails.
As a general rule of thumb: NEVER OPEN THAT CRAP! Even if you have attachments set to automatically not show b/c some pics hotlink therefore do not have attachments in the 1st place. The classic saying fits this situation: Curiousity killed the cat - the "pc" in this case. 
Example 1 & 2
Educate yourselves, please! The ignorance is getting annoying. I'm not crying wolf. |
Again, I will now educate YOU. First of all, embedded images ARE, in fact, attachments. Some application will show them, by default, in the properly embedded areas. These should be treated the same as attachments. If you use an application that automatically views embedded files, you should disable that option. Much more than WMF files can be embedded and many can be dangerous. Again, Outlook and many other applications will show you text in another panel automatically. Also, as dlishguy pointed out, sometimes the less obvious subjects HAVE to be opened if you are using business email. Care can be taken to allow viewing of TEXT ONLY (as I said before) without attachments, embedded files, RTF, HTML or anything other than 100% plaintext. You can THEN choose to fully open the email if you need/want to. *sigh* It's fine to preach, just be sure you understand WHAT you are preaching. Hell, even webmail applications will often not show embedded objects or HTML images FOR THAT VERY REASON. Squirrel Mail, for instance, requires you to click a link to "Show Unsafe Images" which actually means ALL images by it's own definition. I agree, the ignorance is getting annoying. Email is easily the #1 form of communication in today's world for many people. It's not always easy to say for sure that something is bad. Hell, many viruses spread via attachments sent to you by people YOU KNOW. So you can't use the rule "If you don't know the sender, don't open it" because that doesn't assure your safety either. So what then? Never open ANY email? Again, be VERY careful with attachments, make sure embedded files do not show in your preview pane (easy to configure, default in many cases nowadays).
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As a side note, I want to explain my qualifications in this matter. This is not a "toot my own horn" issue, but so that it's not just more ignorant assumption being put out or just what I've read or heard. I am a Security Services Manager for a security services firm. 50+ hours per week are spent by me protecting my clients from malware, spam, viruses, botnets and other nasties and the miscreants behind them. I do this for small, medium and large (national/global) companies. I agree with what oldtimer is saying... you don't KNOW what it is... that's why you should ALWAYS use a plaintext-only preview pane. Then you can see the basis for the content AND be safe in your viewing. Maybe I wasn't clear enough in my first post... I apologize. Embedded files ARE attachments... Outlook is just good at opening them unless you tell it not to by default. Happy emailing!
