Is it possible?

  • Thread starter Thread starter GTS
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GTS

A friend was having an email (just using OE) conversation with someone he
suspected of hacking into some websites maliciously.
Then an error came up about Norton Firewall, which then stopped running.
Then strange things started happening, with more error messages coming up.
He quickly shut-off the PC, but now it won't boot - appears it can't find
the HDD at all.
So can such a disaster be caused by someone he was exchanging emails with
(no attachments) or is it a coincidence?
TIA
Pob
 
In GTS <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
A friend was having an email (just using OE) conversation with
someone he suspected of hacking into some websites maliciously.
Then an error came up about Norton Firewall, which then stopped
running. Then strange things started happening, with more error
messages coming up. He quickly shut-off the PC, but now it won't boot
- appears it can't find the HDD at all.
So can such a disaster be caused by someone he was exchanging emails
with (no attachments) or is it a coincidence?
TIA
Pob
Click to expand...

With each email is a set of headers that contain the IP address. HTML read
emails can carry exploits. Improperly configured firewalls can lull people
into a false sense of security. Is it possible? Yes. Likely? Not really but
it's possible indeed.

Galen
--

"And that recommendation, with the exaggerated estimate of my ability
with which he prefaced it, was, if you will believe me, Watson, the
very first thing which ever made me feel that a profession might be
made out of what had up to that time been the merest hobby."

Sherlock Holmes
 
Your friend's IP address is clearly available from the email he sends. While
the email exchange was taking place, the suspected party may have launched
any number of remote attacks on that IP address in hopes of discovering that
your friend's PC was not fully patched or otherwise vulnerable to one or
more known exploits.

I doubt that the problem came directly via email (although, as other replies
have suggested, there are email based exploits but they normally would
involve either explicit or implicit [ie: html] code in an email).

I rather suspect your friend got up someone's nose and paid for not having
their machine sufficiently secured...
 
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