Atari.Org
Click Here
HomeNewsServicesForumsSupport


ATARI.ORG VIRUS EMAILS
March 15, 2004


Dear Atari.Org reader,

due to a new Microsoft Windows virus outburst, fake E-mails seemingly coming from support@atari.org are spreading.

Atari.Org is not the sender of these mails, we're not running Microsoft Windows and hence we're not infected.

The virus e-mail looks something like the example below, which was sent to our own mailbox (support@atari.org), please also notice that there is a binary attachment (Microsoft Windows excuteable file):



Date: Mon, 08 Mar 2004 15:13:54 +0000
From: support@atari.org
To: support@atari.org
Subject: E-mail account disabling warning.
Parts/Attachments:
   1 Shown    10 lines  Text
   2          12 KB     Application
----------------------------------------

Dear user of Atari.org,

We warn you  about some attacks on your e-mail account. Your computer may
contain viruses, in order to  keep  your computer and e-mail  account safe,
please, follow the instructions.

Further details  can  be obtained from  attached file.

Kind  regards,
   The Atari.org team                              http://www.atari.org


    [ Part 2, Application/OCTET-STREAM (Name: "Attach.pif")  16KB. ]
    [ Cannot display this part. Press "V" then "S" to save in a file. ]




Indeed, it seems to be coming from us, but looking a bit closer at the headers reveal something else:



Return-path: 
Envelope-to: support@atari.org
Delivery-date: Mon, 08 Mar 2004 17:12:57 +0200
Received: from 82-44-161-138.cable.ubr03.haye.blueyonder.co.uk ([82.44.161.138] helo=ixtreme)
        by gem.atari.org with smtp (Exim 3.35 #1)
        id 1B0MR6-00055X-00
        for support@atari.org; Mon, 08 Mar 2004 17:12:56 +0200
Date: Mon, 08 Mar 2004 15:13:54 +0000
To: support@atari.org
Subject: E-mail account disabling warning.
From: support@atari.org
Message-ID: 
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
        boundary="--------ttnhuoclyexguqvonhlw"




Here we can see that some user on a blueyonder.co.uk cable connection is the actual virus sender.


How to prevent this?

Well, change away from Windows. There are free virus-liberated alternatives to chose from.

However, one thing you can always be sure of:
Atari.Org will never be sending you Windows executable files (com, exe, pif..). If you receive anything like that, it's not from us.

Thanks for reading,
Atari.Org Staff



Copyright © 1997-2024 Atari.Org 
Atari is registered trademark of Infogrames