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Potentially Malicious Emails
https://computerhaven.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=2712		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  gmfry [ Fri Oct 08, 2021 5:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Potentially Malicious Emails
I am being deluged with several emails each day like the one below that Bitdefender stops as "Potentially Malicious."
Some are addressed to me at a very old email address that is still active, but never used by me.
I want to unsubscribe from all these (all from the same spammer, I'm guessing), but I'm afraid to even click on the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of each. What do you think? Would it be safe for me to do that?

Attachments:
Screenshot 2021-10-08 .png
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Author:  jaylach [ Fri Oct 08, 2021 5:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Potentially Malicious Emails
I only unsubscribe from things that I signed up for but no longer want. My fear is that, in many cases, clicking the unsubscribe in a spam email does nothing but confirm that the email address is valid.

If there is something common in the spam emails, such as common words in the subject and/or body, I would rather see a rule created to move the spam to a junk folder, or delete if the option is available in your email client.

You could also go to the old email address and close the account.

Steve is better at this kind of stuff than am I and may have better advice.
Author:  sboots [ Fri Oct 08, 2021 8:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Potentially Malicious Emails
I agree with Jay. Don't click the unsubscribe link since it is spam. If your email provider has a web interface and a way to mark messages as Spam, do that. Alternatively, as Jay suggests, create a rule in your email program to mark as spam. If it is possible to view a list of new messages in your email program without opening them and move and/or mark messages as spam or delete them before opening, do that. It is best not to preview your email messages or open them if your inbox contains spam like this. It does sound like Bitdefender is alerting, but the fact that you can see the image suggests that it isn't blocking the content completely.
Since it is coming to an old email account, that suggests that your email address was on a list obtained by one or more mass mailers/spammers. If you really don't use that account any longer, closing the account is a good solution to stop seeing these if your provider or email program doesn't employ decent spam detection.
Author:  gmfry [ Sun Oct 10, 2021 3:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Potentially Malicious Emails
Thanks, guys. I'm exploring those solutions as I get time. I think using the Roadrunner webmail server might be the best way to go.
Author:  Ritzter13 [ Thu Nov 18, 2021 10:44 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Potentially Malicious Emails
I'm going to add to this post if I may. For the last couple weeks, 3 or 4 anyway, I have been receiving these in my spam folder of one MS email account. They go there because I only have safe senders come into my inbox. I have changed both of my MS email passwords to be safe yet these keep coming. I haven't replied to or clicked on any of the links in the email. These are probably not legit. Possibly an elaborate spam/phishing email scheme? Thanks for your help.

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File comment: MS spam/phishing email
MS Phishing Email.png
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Author:  sboots [ Thu Nov 18, 2021 12:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Potentially Malicious Emails
It certainly *looks* legitimate, but the links you've highlighted suggest otherwise. Without seeing the message headers it isn't 100% possible to confirm, though.

What you can do is go to your Microsoft Account in a browser, sign in and go to Security, Sign-in activity. Review that to see successful sign ins and attempts. In my case, I see a failed attempt, using an incorrect password in the early morning hours today and a slew of failed IMAP sync attempts from all over the world between 10/22 and 11/9.

If you have a strong password and don't see any successful logins other than those that you know about, you should be fine. You could further improve the account security by enabling two-step verification or going passwordless, which requires using the authenticator app.

-steve
Author:  Ritzter13 [ Thu Nov 18, 2021 1:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Potentially Malicious Emails
sboots wrote:
It certainly *looks* legitimate, but the links you've highlighted suggest otherwise. Without seeing the message headers it isn't 100% possible to confirm, though.

What you can do is go to your Microsoft Account in a browser, sign in and go to Security, Sign-in activity. Review that to see successful sign ins and attempts. In my case, I see a failed attempt, using an incorrect password in the early morning hours today and a slew of failed IMAP sync attempts from all over the world between 10/22 and 11/9.

If you have a strong password and don't see any successful logins other than those that you know about, you should be fine. You could further improve the account security by enabling two-step verification or going passwordless, which requires using the authenticator app.

-steve

I checked my account and didn't see any suspicious login attempts or attempts to change my password. I'm confident my password has a high strength level. I'll look into the MS Authenticator App. Thanks Steve.
Author:  sboots [ Thu Nov 18, 2021 3:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Potentially Malicious Emails
I'm pretty sure that the emails you are receiving are indeed phishing attempts based on the odd emails in the links you show.
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