I opened a PDF attachment from an email that I thought was from my friend (had a similar email address), but it turns out it was spam.
Before I opened it, Yahoo mail said it scanned it and it had no virus.
Is there anything else to worry about, like spyware or keystroke logger thingamajigs? =D The PDF was for some stock offering thing.
2007-08-07 11:58:29 · 14 answers · asked by donna p. 3 in Computers & Internet ➔ Security
shanmugam p: yes, i opened the PDF and it had about 10 pages of text about this particular company's stock...
2007-08-07 12:15:57 · update #1
No. Don't worry about it.
Used to be that there were all these spam e-mails about a hot penny stock that was "set to explode" or whatever. The idea was that the sender of the spam would buy this worthless stock, get a bunch of people to buy it and drive the price up, then sell and make a large profit, driving the price back down. Those who bought because of the e-mail then were left holding worthless stock.
More recent spam filters started detecting keywords that were used in these stock "tips." So, the spammers started embedding graphics into the e-mails that had the stock information in it.
But, the spam filters improved to where they could read the text in the embedded graphics. So the spammers started sending out the stock tips in PDF files, because the filters couldn't read the contents of that kind of file.
Also, while it's not impossible, it is very difficult to embed any kind of virus in a PDF file. Someone demonstrated a basic virus embedded in a PDF file a few years ago. But, it was pretty benign and there hasn't been any recent developments with viruses in PDFs.
So, you're safe. Don't worry about it.
2007-08-07 12:10:03 · answer #1 · answered by Paul in San Diego 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It is best not to. Some of the spam emails have trojans, worms or other code that can hit you or your email account even if you don't click an attachment. They can capture your contacts list and spam them, sometimes even using your own name. Also, opening the email sends a signal to the spammer that the email is "LIVE" (active) and they add it to a list -- that they sell to other spammers, so you get even MORE spam.
2016-05-21 01:57:44 · answer #2 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Do you not have antivirus? If not, why not? No computer is safe these days from viruses, any more than they are safe from spam and spyware. Most likely all you have done is trigger a response back to the spammer that there is a real, live email address there. You may get more spam, but just keep blocking it. Next time pay more attention!
2007-08-07 12:05:29 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
You may have let the spammers know that the address is a good one to send spam to, but other than that you shouldn't worry ... but let this be a well learned lesson AND NEVER OPEN ATTACHMENTS from anyone you don't know!! unless you don't have anything on your computer that you could not replace with a good backup.. that is.. because that might just be what you might have to do some day.
2007-08-07 12:04:16 · answer #4 · answered by ladeehwk 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
no your fine just go ahead and put a check mark in the little box and move it to bulk folder. that way next time it will just send that to the bulk mail as spam. lol oh its called a keylogger. also i know the fight on spam they then started using colors within the emails to get past spam filters now i guess they are using pdf files to combat spam blockers thank's for the tip.
2007-08-07 12:03:20 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
You are probably lucky it was just some spam and not a trojan laden one. There is a lot of mailicious mails coming from Russia recently - ecard from a friend and that.But I am surprise they actually send a PDF file?
2007-08-07 12:05:33 · answer #6 · answered by BlurredMind 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It is most likely to be just junk, but check with an antivirus software. Norton, AVG , Avast are free antivirus software. Ad-aware, Ewido are free spyware removers. You can download free softwares at http://fixit.in/antivirus.html and http://fixit.in/spywareremover.html
2007-08-07 12:05:43 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
If yahoo didn't find anything it's fine. Yahoo automatically disables HTML from being decoded in emails, so that's another feature that makes you safe.
2007-08-07 12:02:26 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
restore it to a time before you opened it,run dick cleanup,disc defrag,www.tune-up.com is a very good program to use for cleaning and repairing,its free for 30 days,excellant progrom
2007-08-07 12:02:41 · answer #9 · answered by MrZip 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No You should not be worried but if you are go to housecall it will run a check and make sure all is ok
2007-08-07 12:02:29 · answer #10 · answered by Rod 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋