General email warning
17, August 2004, 11:14am — It is not our regular policy to warn you about every suspicious email that crosses our server but there is one circulating today that, at a glance, looks very "official." The email in question appears to be from staff@vineyard.net. The text is something like this:
Dear User of Vineyard.net email server gateway, Your email will be disabled because of improper using in next three days. If you are still wishing to use it, please resign your account information. Details can be found in attached file. Note: use password to open archive.
Cheers,
the Vineyard.net team.
There are a number of problems with this message. The first is that we don't send customer mail from an account called "staff." The second is that we have never called our machines an email server gateway. And the third is that the text appears to be written by somebody who does not use English as their first language.
If you get something that looks bogus....it most probably is. If you get something that refers to your account, please know that if we had an issue with a particular customer using an account improperly, we would discuss it with that customer. Finally, protect yourself by being aware that there are threats and by knowing that your mail is coming from a safe, legitimate source. Use an anti-virus program that is updated on a regular basis. Only open attachments from people you know. It's safe to say that most attachments these days are viral - especially those that you are not expecting.
Our part in trying to protect our customers from the bad guys is employing a heavy duty virus screnning program before you get your email. If a virus is detected, the mail is deleted. But realistically, no matter how wide we cast our net, we can't promise 100% protection. This is why we ask you to use an anti-virus program also. In the case of damaging computer viruses - an ounce of prevention is your best course.
As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to give us a call.
Kathy Retmier, 508.696.6688