Viruses and Email
Viruses have been much publicized in recent years, with special attention being given to those that come attached to e-mails. These are particularly disruptive to businesses, because they can send themselves to everyone on your address list. This means a virus can spread through a network like wildfire if it is not stopped at the source.
Should you never open an e-mail again? Not a viable solution for many reasons, the main being that a virus cannot start itself, it must be activated.
If you receive an e-mail with an unexpected attachment, it's better to be safe than sorry: do not open it, and get in touch with the person that sent it. If they are unaware that it was sent at all, it may well be that they have a computer virus that is riffling through their e-mail address list. In this instance, delete the e-mail. Never open the attachment.
But e-mails are not the only transporter. You can quite easily pick up a virus when browsing the internet (see Safe Surfing below), or by putting an infected floppy disk into your computer. In fact, certain viruses thrive in this way - once you open a file from the floppy disk, the virus executes and is let loose in your computer.
Viruses are one of the best reasons for backing up your computer (or at the very least your most important documents) (see Backing-up your computer on your computer's Help pages for further information).
There are a whole host of anti-virus software products on the market that will help to protect your computer. These will scan your computer and any incoming e-mail attachments. If it finds a virus, the software will quarantine the offending item and alert you to its presence. Many of these products will also attempt to fix any damage the virus has done.
New viruses are created seemingly every day. If it's to be at all effective, any anti-virus software must be updated constantly so that it has the latest virus definitions, usually from the manufacturer's web site.
Offensive e-mails
If you are concerned about "SPAM", or general unwanted e-mail, do not automatically assume that it is coming from where it seems to come from because there are various ways in which "spammers" can give false details within a given e-mail.
Police can only generally assist in criminal matters and there is little that they can do in relation to general "spam", especially when it turns out to have been generated from another country. Your own Internet Service provider should be able to give advice on identifying the origin of the e-mail and may possibly be able to selectively block messages for you.
If someone exploits another's personal information in order to send unwanted e-mail, they may be breaching certain data protection laws. In the UK, the authority responsible for overseeing data protection laws is the Information Commisioner.
Information and advice can be found at the Information Commisioner's web site.
If, for any reason, you are in danger as a result of threatening or abusive or offensive e-mails, then please contact your local police station, where local officers deal with this just as they do offensive or abusive phone calls.
Likewise, if you feel you are the victim of a stalker then be careful NOT to destroy any evidence that may well be needed by the Police with any enquries they may need to carry out.
Keep the e-mails you receive as originals; for security, if you know how, make a copy of the e-mails onto a floppy disk. You can also print a copy on paper to show Police when reporting the matter. Be sure NOT to delete the originals.
What is a Virus?
Computer viruses are so named because they can cause damage to your computer and have a range of symptoms, although some have no symptoms at all.
They will propagate themselves within your computer's system and often multiply by passing the 'infection' from file to file, or by copying themselves - sometimes finding the users e-mail address book and sending themselves to everyone in the list. Problems deepen if the infected computer is shared by many users, or is on a network or other business environment. Here, the virus may well try to copy itself to other machines it can access, or to other shared files.
Viruses cannot harm hardware, only files. If a virus tries to come up with a warning that your computer is about to explode, it is certainly nothing more than a hoax! The main purpose of viruses is to disrupt, and if the virus creator can achieve this by simply putting up annoying messages or scaring you, then they have succeeded without actually needing to do any great damage to your machine.
Viruses normally come in the form of an "executable" - that is a small program that, upon execution, will start off the harmful effects. This could be carried by an attachment from an email, or can be hidden inside a document or spreadsheet that activates the virus on opening the item.
Since virus code must be executed to have any effect, there are a few types of file that are not normally used to harbour viruses. These include graphics and sound files such as those with a file extension (ending) of .gif, .jpg, .mp3, .wav, etc., as well as plain text in .txt files. Simply viewing these is unlikely to fire off a virus - the virus needs to use something as a vehicle to allow it to execute the code.
There are various sorts of viruses including "back-door", "worms" and "boot sector" viruses, to name but a few.
Viruses
PLEASE DO NOT TRY TO NOTIFY US OF COMPUTER VIRUSES YOU RECEIVE.
- Many virus alerts are hoaxes - when these hoaxes are forwarded they become just as much of a problem as the virus itself.
- If you did e-mail the Police you may be passing them - and others - the Virus
- The IT industry and Law Enforcement agencies around the world have already well-established systems in place to alert each other of such problems
- Ensure your machine at home or at your place of work has up-to-date virus software loaded and that it updates regularly to ensure you are protected against such attacks. These viruses can be very time consuming to repair if they catch you out
- Be sure to have backed up your work regularly so that if such a problem occurs you do not loose everything on your computer
However, if you feel that you have contracted a virus to your system as a result of an unauthorised access (Hacking), or some other misuse of your company system, you (or your IT Systems Manager) should call the Computer Crime Investigation Unit direct.
If you are a computer user and you think you may have a virus, you should in the first instance contact your systems administrator, if there is one, or the office manager for advice.
If you are a lone user then you can obtain information and assistance through various web sites and service providers. Most of the major Anti-Virus software companies allow reports to be submitted to them.
The most important message of all is: DO NOT GO ONLINE WITHOUT VIRUS PROTECTION AND A FIREWALL IN PLACE.
You don't leave the house doors and windows wide open when you go out; the same should apply to your computer in the virtual world.
By protecting your machine you will save hours of misery and lost time by investing in the protection you need. The products are on sale in all good computer stores (see below).
If you have a Cable Modem fitted in your home it is essential to have both the firewall and virus protection installed.
Anti-Virus Firms
Useful Links
If you'd like further information on or help with Online Crime, please check out some of the links below:
Criminal Justice System Advice Sheet
Please view the following Victims of Crime information sheet (PDF format) created by Criminal Justice System aimed to provide support and advice to victims of crime
Leaflets and Information
The Home Office web site offers information on a variety of Crime Reduction matters, including statistics, policies, advice and published material.