Phishing,spam,spoof or what?

[Washy]

Help I received this today.  I only opened it because the title said 'e-mail link info contained'. I hope by opening it I have not activated any link.  I have not and will not reply. I have not applied for any mortgage but I have recently lost a letter in the post with my bank details, and there has been a security alert on my newly acquired internet banking account, so I am becoming increasingly paranoid .

Here is the text of the e-mail in blue:

Thank you very much for your mortgage refinance
application.

The company that best suited your needs is requesting
applicant verification in order to process your claim.

(COMPANY ID:..........)number contained here - I removed for security.

I have also intentionally removed the http:// link here.

Thanks,
Jack Austin
Broker (..............) also ref number here which I have deleted.

 Does anyone think this is anything more dangerous than a spam or Spoof e-mail???????  The e-mail was from :

jackjghAustinj@.........  I have intentionally removed the rest of this link in case anyone activates something?  I feel like replying and telling them that I have not requested a mortgage but think that a reply could activate a link.  I have read so much about Phishing and people's identities being stolen.  Advice please.

Also, if any of LF forum controllers think that my security is further being compromised by my publishing this please remove it for me. Thanks

 

[Dick Smith]

I get 50+ emails a day trying to take money off of me. If only they knew...

If you don't reply you are in no danger. Just delete it, and if possible invest in Mailwasher or similar. I don't know the details of that because I use Entourage which does all that for me.

What worries me is the 'security alert' on your bank account - was that reported via email?

I got this little gem earlier today:

You will Capture top relief on Performance Arousal, Acesodyne, Analgesic,

health of male, cholesterol, Blues, distress and obesity.

Select from our wide collection of quality medicaments.

Absolutely impressive -- quick and reliable handling

Your case profile review form is to be reviewed by licensed doctors

quickly.

It is the super promo for great benefits and value.

I'm always up for top Blues...

[Baz]

I hope this was only a spam and contained nothing else. I can only advise never open any emails that you do not know the sender. If curiosity gets the better of you, then for a small outlay invest in Mailwasher where you can open any emails in complete safety and even bounce  back to sender any you do not like. I have been using this device for a few years and know that other people here also use it. Whilst it is no longer free, for an initial outlay of less than £20 and £5 per year thereafter it has to be worth its weight in gold and give you total peace of mind.

http://www.mailwasher.net/

Baz

[Mpprh]

Hi

With my various mail addresses, I get a fair spread of spam messages.

The "you have been approved for a loan " type detailled here has been popular over the last couple of weeks.

The last few have been for copy watches, Nigerian / Cote d'Ivoire / South Africa / Zimbabwa inheritance stuff, flags for sale, cheap ink cartridges, cheap software, message failure notice, you've won the lotto (lucky that - I don't remember buying a ticket !) and Viagra.

Delete it and wait for the next one !

Peter

[Jon 1]

I note from this weeks Sunday Times there is a much more dangerous threat on the Net.  It is called Pharming, and is apparently much more difficult to spot and deal with!

[Ex Forum Admin]

If you reply to the email, they will know that the email is active and you could receive more spam.

My advice is to delete it. If it is real and important they will phone you or contact you by post.

[a.foreman]

[quote]I note from this weeks Sunday Times there is a much more dangerous threat on the Net. It is called Pharming, and is apparently much more difficult to spot and deal with![/quote]

What is pharming  ? 

[Cat]

 

Pharming...  see below (sourced from http://www.it-observer.com/articles.php?id=651  )

"Hackers appear to have an increasing interest in reaping financial reward from their actions and creations. If until now, phishing - using emails to lure users into entering data into spoofed online banking websites - was one of the most widespread fraud techniques, 'pharming' now poses an even greater threat.

Basically, pharming involves interfering with the name resolution process on the Internet. When a user enters an address (such as www.pandasoftware.com) this needs to be converted into a numeric IP address as 62.14.63.187. This is known as name resolution, and the task is performed by DNS (Domain Name System) servers. These servers store tables with the IP address of each domain name. On a smaller scale, in each computer connected to the Internet there is a file that stores a table with the names of servers and IP addresses so that it is not necessary to access the DNS servers for certain server names.

Pharming consists in the name resolution system modification, so that when a user thinks he or she is accessing to bank's web page, he or she is actually accessing the IP of a spoofed site.
Phishing owed its success to social engineering techniques, despite that not all users take the phishing bait, and so this success was limited. Also, each phishing attack was aimed at one specific type of banking service, further reducing the chances of success. Pharming on the other hand, can affect a far greater number of online banking users.

In addition, pharming isn't just a one-off attack, as is the case with phishing emails, but remains present on the computer waiting for the user to access the banking services.

The solution against this new kind of fraud lies, as ever, in antivirus security solutions. Pharming attacks depend on an application in the compromised system (this could be an exe file, a script, etc). But before this application can run, obviously it needs to reach the operating system. Code can enter the system through numerous channels, in fact, in as many ways as information can enter the system: el e-mail (the most frequent), Internet downloads, copied directly from CD or floppy, etc. In each of these information entry points, the antivirus has to detect the file with the malicious code and eliminate it, provided that is, it is registered as a dangerous application in the antivirus signature file.

Unfortunately, the propagation speed of malware today is head-spinning, and there more malicious creators and offering their source code to the rest of the hacker community to create new variants and propagate even more attacks. The virus laboratories don't have enough time to prepare the malware detection and elimination routines for new malicious code before they start spreading to a few PCs. Despite the efforts and improvements from virus labs, it is physically impossible for them to prepare an adequate solution in time against some of these threats that can spread in just a few minutes."