One click too many?

[esox]

Hi,my wife just forwarded an obvious spoof email for me to look at.
It was supposedly from Abbey,and claimed our account was suspended and would we like to click the `unsuspend` button to see further information and confirm our details.
Usually,i delete them straight away,but this time my curiosity got the better of me and i clicked the link just to see what was there,but after a second or two and before the page loaded i stopped the download and closed the page.
Was it too late?
Now i`m wondering if a keystroke logger or somthing else could have been installed?
Knew i should of left well alone.....

 

[masqueraid]

It's unlikely, most of the sites that are linked to are just imitation login screens for the banks that are currently being Phished.

However depending on the nature of the link you may has inadvertently notified the site that your email account is valid and so worth more to sell on. Check for an increase in spam to the same email address as the "Abbey" email was sent to.

If you have up to date spyware and antivirus scanning you will be 99.99999999% safe. Run a scan with updated definition files now if you want to be reassured.

 

[A210AMG]

As a rule, If I don't know the sender or it looks 'iffy' I delete it.

If anything is That important I will get a call if I've missed something.

next time just delete it as the hastle these things can cause is a pain.

Hope your (pc is) virus free

 

[BTB 500]

I've stuck with a web based email client (Yahoo) for personal stuff. So when you put the mouse pointer over a link or button in an email you can see the URL it points to at the bottom of the screen, without clicking anything. Yahoo's spam filter is actually pretty good and intercepts 99% of dodgy emails.

 

[A210AMG]

google mail is also similar and the spam filter works well,


You can also change the settings as I guess you can with many e-mail systems and block certain stuff..

I get e-mails saying my bank details need changing, thing most are from banks I'm not even holding an account with

 

[esox]

It's unlikely, most of the sites that are linked to are just imitation login screens for the banks that are currently being Phished.

However depending on the nature of the link you may has inadvertently notified the site that your email account is valid and so worth more to sell on. Check for an increase in spam to the same email address as the "Abbey" email was sent to.

If you have up to date spyware and antivirus scanning you will be 99.99999999% safe. Run a scan with updated definition files now if you want to be reassured.

OK,thanks.
Is there any risk in just looking at these spoof login screens(apart from notifying the senders that your email address is valid) but not entering any details?
I have spam filters/virus software and do spyware regularly....

 

[masqueraid]

The sites can be used to download onto your PC but most often they are just collecting info.

By simply hitting the link you have given away at least your computer's location, identity and service provider, operating system, preferred browser, your email address, the fact you responded - suggesting they now know your bank, why reply to an email from a service you don't use? Plus anything you might enter into their website boxes.

Depending on how organised they are they can use this to build up a target profile - but more often than not this is about information which is now the most valuable commodity in spam. I suspect your file is now marked "potentially gullible", so watch for further spam targetted at what they already know.

Don't get paranoid about it though

 

[esox]

OK,thanks.

Happy Xmas,
Potentially Gullible.

 

[DieselE]

Some of these "phishing" e-mails have caused my anti-virus system (Kasperski) to sound the alarm and delete the contents as they come complete with Trojan. As you opened the e-mail, it's probably worth getting your anti-virus software to run a scan of your computer just to be on the safe side.

The first one of these relating to the bank I use arrived less than twenty four hours after I'd managed to lock myself out of the on-line account. It would have been so easy to assume it was a follow up to my mistake. Fortunately, I listen to the many e-mails sent from my bank that says they never ever ask for data.

 

[fredfloggle]

Hi,my wife just forwarded an obvious spoof email for me to look at.
It was supposedly from Abbey,and claimed our account was suspended and would we like to click the `unsuspend` button to see further information and confirm our details.
Usually,i delete them straight away,but this time my curiosity got the better of me and i clicked the link just to see what was there,but after a second or two and before the page loaded i stopped the download and closed the page.
Was it too late?
Now i`m wondering if a keystroke logger or somthing else could have been installed?
Knew i should of left well alone.....

Almost certainly no - it is just a redirect, if you view the source of the email it will show you where it was going. Only of you start to fill in details would you compromise your own security.

http://www.whatsthebloodypoint.com/

is one of my favorites, where the idea is to scam the scammers.

 

[esox]

I still haven`t had the nerve to log on to my online banking yet,just in case......

 

[masqueraid]

If it helps reassure you log on from a different machine from the one you opened the link on. Once you've scanned with up to date anti virus definitions you can breath out again!

 

[Viking2]

You could log on to Lavasoft and download AdAware Free. Install it and scan your system, it will find all sorts of rubbish you didn't know you had such as keyloggers and dialers etc. Worth a try.

 

[Colin_b]

If you are using windows XP, and
1. Have automatic updates turned on
2. Reasonable anti-virus s/w running and up to date
3. Run Windows defender
4. Have a router (rather than just a modem) between you and the internet
5. Use at least a modicum of common sense

You are extremely unlikely to encounter any problems.

 

[fredfloggle]

I'd strongly advise the extremely careful use of autoupdates, if at all.

No substitute for a backup - once some of these little devils get their hooks onto services then even the best AV software will struggle - An image of your PC will allow you to restore it in minutes.

 

[Colin_b]

I'd strongly advise the extremely careful use of autoupdates, if at all.

No substitute for a backup - once some of these little devils get their hooks onto services then even the best AV software will struggle - An image of your PC will allow you to restore it in minutes.

Why the hesitation for autoupdate?

Acronis and a USB hard disk solves all your backup problems!

 

[Viking2]

I'd strongly advise the extremely careful use of autoupdates, if at all.

No substitute for a backup - once some of these little devils get their hooks onto services then even the best AV software will struggle - An image of your PC will allow you to restore it in minutes.

To avoid problems it is essential to keep all windows software up-to-date, therefore I consider it essential to run Windows updates using autoupdates. Not updating leaves you wide open to so many vulnerabilites.

Another thing to do is ensure that Cookies are restricted, as far as possible, that the History in Internet Explorer is set to 0 days and that the Temporary Internet files are deleted on a regular basis. The temporary internet files will often cause a system to run slow due to the amount of disk space being occupied.

I speak from nearly thirty years IT experience as an IT Manager, though now retired.

 

[fredfloggle]

To avoid problems it is essential to keep all windows software up-to-date, therefore I consider it essential to run Windows updates using autoupdates. Not updating leaves you wide open to so many vulnerabilites.

Another thing to do is ensure that Cookies are restricted, as far as possible, that the History in Internet Explorer is set to 0 days and that the Temporary Internet files are deleted on a regular basis. The temporary internet files will often cause a system to run slow due to the amount of disk space being occupied.

I speak from nearly thirty years IT experience as an IT Manager, though now retired.

With the kindest and greatest respect you can speak for 3000 years worth of experience - in the field when we have a solution that works , leave well alone - so just what is this update ? what does it get is claws into? Malcolm likes google tool bar , I can't use it , none of my industrial software will run if I do.

Be in CONTROL of what you download and install , and before you do , make a back up of a known good config , try digging yourself out when it all goes pair shaped- no back up, reinstallation. I can return my laptop to 3 known good working configs , A "clean" OS only one, one with just MS Office applications installed, then one with my industrial gunge on.

With monster hard disks and no restriction on cache and swap sizes , temp internet files won't slow up anything though good house keeping is to be advised.

 

[Colin_b]

With the kindest and greatest respect you can speak for 3000 years worth of experience - in the field when we have a solution that works , leave well alone - so just what is this update ? what does it get is claws into? Malcolm likes google tool bar , I can't use it , none of my industrial software will run if I do.

Be in CONTROL of what you download and install , and before you do , make a back up of a known good config , try digging yourself out when it all goes pair shaped- no back up, reinstallation. I can return my laptop to 3 known good working configs , A "clean" OS only one, one with just MS Office applications installed, then one with my industrial gunge on.

With monster hard disks and no restriction on cache and swap sizes , temp internet files won't slow up anything though good house keeping is to be advised.

The point is that you don't have a solution that works. Some kind soul has found a way to bypass the security by means of a 'feature' in an element of windows. Thus your system has become less secure. Autoupdate fixes that. Failing to implement autoupdate will compromise your security after a while.

Just an extension of updating anti-virus definition files, really (you do, don't you?)

 

[fredfloggle]

The point is that you don't have a solution that works. Some kind soul has found a way to bypass the security by means of a 'feature' in an element of windows. Thus your system has become less secure. Autoupdate fixes that. Failing to implement autoupdate will compromise your security after a while.

Just an extension of updating anti-virus definition files, really (you do, don't you?)

There is no solution that works - it would sell like hot cakes if there was one - you can have all the updates and AV software you like but your PC by definition is still vulnerable if it has any interaction with the outside world.

Autoupdates doesn't necessarily do you any good at all unless you review what the update is .Some of the pre XP pro SP2 updates ended up making the OS unstable.

I don't use AV software, it gets its hooks into too much and detects perfectly safe software installations as being infected (NAV) .

Taking care what you open and view is the most pro-active thing you can do . As I said I don't run AV software and as soon as I have any PC the way I want it then I ghost the hard drive and can restore the PC very quickly - I find that solution works pretty well for me, but I cannot afford to be without the PC for any length of time so dealing with data backups are second nature.