Is this security notice real?

Norton Security | Norton Internet Security
1

I just received this email, allegedly from Symantec:

"The sample file you sent contains a new virus version of mydoom.j.
Please clean your system with the attached signature.
Sincerly,
Robert Ferrew"


This link was attached: www.symantec.de

 

I have not sent any "sample file" to symantec and have never received such an email before. I ran my Norton software again and my computer came up clean. Is this really from symantec or is it phony? I'm suspicious...

 

Thanks for any input.

 

2

Sounds fishy. I would delete it. www.symantec.com/de is the real .de address, too, as far as I know.

3

Delete now. dont click nowhere just delete

4

Hello

 

I would definitely get rid of it. This Robert Ferrew has gotten around.  This is just the first page from Google.

 

http://www.google.com/search?q=Robert+Ferrew%22&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1#q=Robert%20Ferrew&nfpr=1&ei=9WtJTqyCG5ORgQfSqu3BBg&sqi=2&start=0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=45b2b70f47ef0456&biw=1016&bih=567

5

hey!

 

though the email seems to be spam'ish, the link you pasted leads to genuine Symantec's german page. symantec.de redirects to symantec.com/de

 

however, the mail definitely looks fishy!

 

hk

6
High_Kicks wrote:

though the email seems to be spam'ish, the link you pasted leads to genuine Symantec's german page. symantec.de redirects to symantec.com/de

 

however, the mail definitely looks fishy!

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No matter how legit it might look, in an email it is possible that a nefarious sender could disguise the actual linked URL so that it is not the same as what is displayed in the email message.   So the actual URL link (if clicked) can be quite different than what is written in the message body.   So even if a link *looks* legitimate, the underlying HTML code (i.e., the "href" site)  for the link may not be.   Sometimes looking in the staus bar of your browser while hovering over the link can tell you the actual link location behind the apparent link.   But for me personally,  I would never click on an unsolicited link in an email like this, especially when the unsolicited email is asking the recipient to install software on their machine.  Which should raise a red flag.  Plus the poster never even sent a sample file in the first place.  It is even possible that  instead of a website location, a disguised link could link directly to an executable .exe file.

7
Huylym wrote:
No matter how legit it might look, in an email it is possible that a nefarious sender could disguise the actual linked URL so that it is not the same as what is displayed in the email message.   So the actual URL link (if clicked) can be quite different than what is written in the message body.   So even if a link *looks* legitimate, the underlying HTML code (i.e., the "href" site)  for the link may not be.   Sometimes looking in the staus bar of your browser while hovering over the link can tell you the actual link location behind the apparent link.   But for me personally,  I would never click on an unsolicited link in an email like this, especially when the unsolicited email is asking the recipient to install software on their machine.  Which should raise a red flag.  Plus the poster never even sent a sample file in the first place.  It is even possible that  instead of a website location, a disguised link could link directly to an executable .exe file.

Hi Huylym,

 

Absolutely correct! Kudos to you for recognizing this.

 

It is indeed possible to "spoof" the URL so that it looks legitimate even though it really isn't.

 

I have recently been getting emails supposedly from Comcast saying my account is about to be suspended and "click here" to get more information. I guess the latest one today, they got really desperate and said my account HAS been suspended! :smileysurprised:

 

Is anyone surprised I'm able to post this reply from a suspended account? :smileytongue:

 

Whoever the "phisher" is in my case however, they weren't exactly very smart. They didn't even try to "spoof" the URL - it actually pointed to a PHP page and did not even have the word Comcast in there! Not to mention that the email did not even use proper English.

 

I forwarded this on to the Comcast abuse team. I think with the lack of common sense in this phishing attempt Comcast will probably be able to catch the perpetrator quite easily. :smileyhappy:

 

OK, I digress a bit sometimes. :smileytongue:

 

But really the point for everyone is, do NOT ever click on a URL from an email unless you know 100% that it came from a trusted sender and you are expecting the email.

 

Just like in the Comcast example I just gave, it is so easy to independantly go to the official Comcast website without ever clicking on the link in the email.

 

Best wishes.

Allen