Beware of Attachment Emails

The trend of late is a revisit from “your account has been updated” emails.  These emails may be phrased to tell you that a recent security patch has been applied to your email service or website, or something similar.  Then you will be asked to open an attached file to remedy the problem or officially apply the “security” fix.  Beware – and definitely hesitate – before opening any attachment.

In most cases, your web hosting or email hosting provider will never ask you to open a file to deal with any sort of technical support issue.  If you are unsure, simply pick up the phone and call your tech support team, or email them directly in a fresh email message (not a reply to or forward of that suspicious message).  If you enjoy WEBii services, these emails are absolutely NOT from us – we will never ask you to open a file to address anything with your email services.

This is a recycled tactic used by hackers and spammers to gain some sort of control over your computer or your information.  A file is most likely malicious software.  The message may even say it is “from” your own website domain.

A good rule of thumb is to only open attachments that you are expecting from parties that you know.