Hello,
Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Mail.
There are many viruses in existence today (often
called "worms"), that
propagate when an email attachment containing the
virus is sent to an
email address found in an infected user's computer
(e.g., address book,
local files, etc.). In cases such as these, Yahoo!
users may receive an
email with an attachment that indicates the email
has been sent from
their own Yahoo! account, when in reality, it most
likely was not.
Yahoo! Mail is a web-based email system. Your email
messages, address
book and other account information are stored on
Yahoo!'s servers,
rather than on your computer. Because most viruses
infect your local
computer, it is very unlikely that the virus would
propagate through a
Yahoo! Mail account.
Currently, the most reported virus as described
above is the
"W32.Sobig.F@mm" virus. If you have received a
suspicious email that you
think may contain the Sobig virus, please compare
the subject line of
the email you have received to those listed at:
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/[email protected]
tml
or
http://vil.nai.com/vil/content/v_100561.htm
Please be aware that because Yahoo! Mail is
web-based, simply viewing
your email messages in Yahoo! Mail does not make
your computer
vulnerable to computer viruses. In addition,
attachments sent along with
email are not a threat to your system if you do not
download them.
However, if you choose to download an attachment by
either opening it or
saving it to your computer, your computer does then
become vulnerable to
computer viruses. The same is true of all files you
download to your
computer, whether email attachments or not.
Please note that there is a risk involved whenever
downloading email
attachments to your computer or sending email
attachments to others. As
stated in the Yahoo! Terms of Service, neither
Yahoo! nor its licensors
are responsible for any damages caused by your
decision to do so. The
Yahoo! Mail Abuse team recommends that you never
download files from an
unknown source.
As a further precaution, we recommend that you
choose to scan your
attachments whenever this option is available.
Following these
suggestions will greatly reduce your likelihood of
experiencing trouble
from computer viruses.
If you believe you have a virus on your system, we
recommend that you
install an anti-virus program and contact your
computer's user support
group for assistance. You can also search the virus
encyclopedia at:
http://www.symantec.com/
In addition, since the Sobig.F email worm uses
different "From"
addresses, it's currently not possible to block
incoming mail using the
"Blocked Address" feature of Yahoo! Mail.
You can however create a filter based on the text
within the body of the
email. Once the filter is created, it will redirect
those emails to a
particular folder. The two sentences below are text
that are generally
located within the body of a Sobig.F email:
See the attached file for details
OR
Please see the attached file for details.
To set up a filter, please follow the directions
below:
1. Log into your Yahoo! Mail Account
http://mail.yahoo.com
2. Click on "Mail Options"
3. Click "Filters"
4. Click on the "Add" button
5. Enter in a filter name, such as "Email Worm" or
"Sobigf"
6. In the "Body" field, please enter the text
listed above. Please
note, you will need to create two different filters
for each sentence
that is listed above.
7. Next, choose the folder where you would like the
message to be
delivered
8. Finally, click on the "Add Filter" button
Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Customer Care.
Regards,
Yahoo! Customer Care
http://www.yahoo.com/
664367