{ March 4, 2004 }

I have management?

For the past couple of months I have been inundated with emails containing all the various Windows-related worms. Thankfully, because all I use are Macs, the emails have added up to nothing more than a mild nuisance, and at times -- like today -- comedic fodder.

Today I received yet another worm email, but this time from my own domain -- "staff@whatdoiknow.org". The staff was apparently upset with me, so they sent me the following:

Dear user of Whatdoiknow.org,

Our antivirus software has detected a large ammount of viruses outgoing from your email account, you may use our free anti-virus tool to clean up your computer software.

For details see the attached file.

The Management,
The Whatdoiknow.org team

Now, obviously the message was automatically parsed to place applicable domain names and what-not into the email to make it seem personal / legit, but I still cracked up at the thought of someone -- hell, a management team -- running my site and getting upset with me, and suggesting useless anti-virus software.

Comments

It would have been even funnier if "Management" had fired you by e-mail!

Posted by: Todd Coleman at March 4, 2004 9:06 AM

man that little worm has pissed me off so much i am about to pull my hair out from the root.

the problem with this one is that every dummy in my company still open it even after i've told them pretty much what you posted. i've said it verbally, through email, and on our intranet. still, they open and call and open and call. "but who is dan@domain.com?", "but this email is from someone inside the company", (this one from the president) "hey ricardo "who is the management team and why are they sending this email instead of the director?" *that would be me* my answer, to myself of course, is "we had to involve the management team because you are too freakin' dum to listen, read, or follow the simplest directions but smart enough to run a company".

blah!!!

Posted by: ricardo at March 4, 2004 9:17 AM

My worries are that a client will get this email from my "management' team. The worm/virus writers are getting a hell of a lot better nowadays. Would I send them an email that our mailserver will be unavailable for the next two days? No, but my clients might take it verbatim.

Posted by: Tom at March 4, 2004 10:23 AM

I too use Macs and have therefore been saved from this latest round of virus problems, but much like you (and probably more so), my server has been spoofed quite a bit in the last few months.

Luckily for me, it has yet to spoof my biz domain, so no clients have received emails claiming to be from me, but it has spoofed my personal domain and sent emails to hundreds of different people.

I've also had a lovely experience lately where spammers have been scanning my comment pages and then sending these viruses to people who have commented on my site. That's really more of a problem for me. It's one thing if my domain is spoofed and it sends a virus to joe@place.com, it's another if it sends one to a regular visitor/commenter.

In the interim, I think I'm going to remove people's email addresses from my site... in the long run, I might add some Enkoder/MT functionality so that I might be able to still include people's address, but they would be better protected from potential spammers.

Posted by: Garrett at March 4, 2004 10:50 AM

I have to say this is one of the most clever viruses I've seen lately. Of course the joke falls flat on those of us who manage our own sites and email, but I'm not so sure of the typical non-geek client. Thank goodness I don't have to deal with those. Now, if these viruses keep on pounding on users rendering Windows unusable and forcing them to switch to other platforms, I couldn't complain about that.

Yeah I know it is naive to think that switching en masse to Mac or Linux would stop viruses. It's more of a sociologic vicious circle. But still...

Posted by: beto at March 4, 2004 10:53 AM

Hehe. I got this same email today at my cameronmoll.com email address. Sent from staff@ to me. Funny thing is, there's only myself and myself in the "cameronmoll.com" company.

(also purely on Macs)

Posted by: Cameron at March 4, 2004 11:59 AM

When I was at Microsoft I got a virus like this -- said it was from the IT director or something, and I needed to run the attached file to do a Windows update because the system was insecure. The attachment had already been cleansed, but I thought it was pretty funny that I got that where I did.

Posted by: Nate Cook at March 4, 2004 2:12 PM

I got one of those too from my domain last night. I couldn't help but be impressed at how much effort goes into these worm/virus blasts. pretty clever actually, but I feel sympathetic for all the IT and sysadmins out there.

Posted by: jeremy at March 4, 2004 2:20 PM

Better watch it our you could be fired by The Management!!!

Posted by: monkeyinabox at March 4, 2004 2:29 PM

Make that "OR YOU".... errrr

Posted by: monkeyinabox at March 4, 2004 2:30 PM

I received the same type of email yesterday, from management@hauntedpalace.net. I've been scolded by my own domain!

Posted by: Carla at March 4, 2004 4:45 PM

Important distinction here Todd, one that I have been talking about with clients for a few days now.

The attachment is not merely "useless anti-virus software", but rather a new variant of the "Bagle" virus. So basically, this email, disguised as a preventative maintenance fix for viruses, is actually a virus itself.

I have seen three different versions of the same come-on... one says it's to fight spam, another says it's to prepare for a server upgrade and will set up forwarding for you in the interim, and the third talks about viruses already on your system. (That's the one you received.)

The reason the attachment is password protected, is because many server admins automatically filter out any unsolicited ZIP files (that is, ZIP files that aren't password protected at the request of the recipient.) This allows the attachment to fly clear.

The spelling and logistic errors of the text (and the fact that I'm aware of my own domains' intricacies) set up *my* BS meter... but I can easily see "regular" users get baffled by this email and therefore run the attachment... hence infecting their PC's in the process. Its possible that their paranoia about viruses will only push them further to this course of action.

For now I'm just thankful for my Mac, and the fact that 99% of my clients are on the Chosen Platform.

Posted by: Josh at March 4, 2004 5:41 PM

I have had the same email. Made me and the guys laugh in the office, at first I thought it was one of them messing around but no. Lame virus instead.

Posted by: Paul Michael Smith at March 4, 2004 6:52 PM

It was Management from HBO's Carnivale.

You can't see them, but they're there.

Posted by: Jim Renaud at March 4, 2004 9:55 PM

"a large ammount", huh? Maybe they need advice on a good spell checker.

Posted by: Bill at March 5, 2004 12:17 AM

I received the same sort of email forwarded from a client whose domain I host. His was from "administration@" hisdomain.com. It warned him that his "email account will be disabled because of improper using [sic] in next three days [sic], if you are still wishing to use it, please, resign [sic] your account information. Pay attention on [sic] attached file." It just makes me [sic] that someone is trying to get me clients account information this way. Fortunately, he has a Masters in ESL and the volume of spelling and grammar errors made him suspicious.

Posted by: Paul Madlon at March 5, 2004 11:18 AM

I received the same message regarding my company e-mail and I almost fell for it until I saw the .pif extension in the attachment. I was really confused about my account being managed since I'm the one in charge of the e-mail admin.

Posted by: Bea at March 6, 2004 11:23 AM

i wish i had managment. :(

Posted by: scott at March 7, 2004 11:16 AM

I've been getting emails that appear to be from the management at the company that hosts my site- it said that they had noticed i had been getting a lot of spam, so they were sending me directions on setting up my spam protection. I actually almost opened it, until i realized that i already had spam protection running on that address, and that the email wasn't nearly as polite and nice as the ones i usually get from the guys who host my website.

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