Email Attachments – being careful opening unknown attachments

My name is Matt Christenson, I have been in IT since the days of the good ole Commodore 64, yea, thats right, I used to work with 64k, back then, that was a huge playground….I currently consult for Software Solutions Associates, LLC.

In today’s world, we live by means of electronic communication, one of the means being the use of email. I know times are really changing when my father, who has had a cell phone for years, finally figured out how to text, gone are the days of wrenching on the 70’s chevelle, in with technology!

Along with technology come risks, one of these being the risk of exposing personal data to others, as well as contracting viruses that wreak havoc on our computers. I write this for people who really don’t know or understand the dangers email can cause!

Let’s start with receiving emails from people we know, or businesses we trust. I cannot emphasize enough that most businesses do not email you regarding personal information. So many people give trust to emails when they see that it’s from a friend, or business and open up the attachments that are sent or click on the links in the email, and get into trouble. There are so many worm viruses that can get into your computer, pull information from your contacts and kindly email all your contacts with malicious intents.

Let’s go thru a few safety precautions.

Unless you’re expecting an attachment, be very cautious about opening any files. If you have any questions about an attachment, put the file name into Google and search for it, for example “USPS.exe” which is an actual virus file that went around. Some people I know who are very good at not opening files opened the USPS.exe virus, because the email the received said they had important information about a package they were trying to deliver in that file, which goes to show that some of these emails are very realistic looking.

BOTTOM LINE, unless your expecting attachments, do not open them, Google the attachment name first and see what comes up!