Verification

[Black]

I received a patch, which was unsolicited, in my e-mail.
I would like to know how I can verify that it was sent
from Microsoft?

[Nicholas]

Black Hawk --

You did not receive an update notification from Microsoft! You
received a virus-laden email message from a devious imposter!

A devious imposter is "spoofing" Microsoft and attempting to deceive you
into installing a malicious VIRUS in your computer! Delete the VIRUS
laden message immediately!

Microsoft never sends file attachments with email messages!

Please take a moment to read the following articles:

Information on Bogus Microsoft Security Bulletin E-mails
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=3D/technet/secu=
rity/news/patch_hoax.asp=20

How to Tell If a Microsoft Security-Related Message Is Genuine
http://www.microsoft.com/security/antivirus/authenticate_mail.asp=20

How to Trim the "Spam" from Your E-Mail Diet
http://www.microsoft.com/security/articles/spam.asp


--=20
Nicholas

----------------------------------------------------------------------

"Black" > wrote in message:
...

| I received a patch, which was unsolicited, in my e-mail.=20
| I would like to know how I can verify that it was sent=20
| from Microsoft?
|=20
|

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

What you received is either a very common malicious hoax or the
output of a computer infected by one of several wide-spread, mass
emailing worms. The most widely-known are:

W32.Swen.A_mm


W32.Dumaru_mm


W32.Gibe_mm


Microsoft never has, does not currently, and never will email
unsolicited security patches. At the most, if, and only if, you
subscribe to their security notification newsletter, they will send
you an email informing you that a new patch is available for
downloading.

Microsoft Policies on Software Distribution
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/?url=/technet/security/policy/swdist.asp

Information on Bogus Microsoft Security Bulletin Emails
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/news/patch_hoax.asp

Any and all legitimate patches and updates are readily available
at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/. (Notice that this is the true
URL, rather than the bogus one that may have been contained in the
email you received.) Any messages that point to any other source(s) or
claim to have the patch attached are bogus.

You're receiving these emails because your email address is in
the address book of someone infected with a worm, and/or because you
posted your real email address somewhere on-line, either in a forum
accessible to the public and spambots, such as Usenet, or on an
untrustworthy web site that subsequently sold your address as part of
a mailing list. One thing you can do is notify _everyone_ with whom
you've ever corresponded via email that one or more of them may be
infected with a mass emailing worm, and should take the appropriate
steps.

There's probably no way of blocking all of the bogus messages, but
you can greatly reduce the number you get by creating a rule, based
upon the most commonly used subject lines, to delete the emails from
the server without ever downloading them.

Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH


"Black" > wrote in message
...
> I received a patch, which was unsolicited, in my e-mail.
> I would like to know how I can verify that it was sent
> from Microsoft?
>
>