viruses in .gif files ??

  • Thread starter Thread starter Frank
  • Start date Start date
F

Frank

Hello,

At our small office we receive numerous emails in a day that have a single
..gif file attached. Our email server is set up to strip gifs, jpegs and
just about every other type of file that can contain a virus but I was just
wondering if anyone knows the intended purpose of these emails.
Is it a virus in the gif or is it just someone hoping to harvest email
addresses?

Thanks.

F. Klassen
 
Hard to tell unless you allow a quarantined test computer to receive the
email and then check it out after scanning it for malware first. Most likely
it just is a picture file would be my guess. --- Steve
 
Frank said:
At our small office we receive numerous emails in a day that have a
single .gif file attached. Our email server is set up to strip
gifs, jpegs and just about every other type of file that can
contain a virus but I was just wondering if anyone knows the
intended purpose of these emails. Is it a virus in the gif or is it just
someone hoping to harvest
email addresses?
Click to expand...

It's a popular way for spammers to send email lately. With everything in
one big picture.
 
Frank said:
Hello,

At our small office we receive numerous emails in a day that have a single
.gif file attached. Our email server is set up to strip gifs, jpegs and
just about every other type of file that can contain a virus but I was
just wondering if anyone knows the intended purpose of these emails.
Is it a virus in the gif or is it just someone hoping to harvest email
addresses?

Thanks.

F. Klassen
Click to expand...
Yes malware can be inserted into almost any of the image file formats.
However, only be examining a file can you determine if it has been infected.
Jim
 
Shenan said:
It's a popular way for spammers to send email lately. With everything in
one big picture.
Click to expand...
YEAH :( my ISP's email server is being spammed big time!
something about stocks and stuff and it is just a plain IMAGE FILE :S
They are probably sending those email through zombie computers so we
can't track them :/ if anyone want to see one, please reply (email
or/and newsgroup).
 
From: "Frank" <[email protected]>

| Hello,

| At our small office we receive numerous emails in a day that have a single
| .gif file attached. Our email server is set up to strip gifs, jpegs and
| just about every other type of file that can contain a virus but I was just
| wondering if anyone knows the intended purpose of these emails.
| Is it a virus in the gif or is it just someone hoping to harvest email
| addresses?

| Thanks.

| F. Klassen


It is called spam.

Instead of text being in the body which can be examined for textual spam content, the spam
is in a GIF file and you have to view the graphic to see the spam not parse the text.

If you have further questions about viruses or the possibility of viruses, please post in
anti virus News Groups.
 
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