Off-Topic: Did I receive a virus or worm?

[Andrew L. Gould]

On Tuesday 09 September 2003 09:17 am, Timms, Simon wrote:
> Jerry McAllister wrote:
> >> Below the message, however, were two blocks of gibberish.  Both blocks
>
> begin
>
> >> with a "begin" line and end with an "end" line.  There is no indication
>
> that
>
> >> Kmail included an attachment in-line within the email.
> >>
> >> Is it possible that the code was needed to access the web page?  If so,
> >> I
> >>
> >> don't understand how clicking on the web address would send or use the
>
> blocks
>
> >> of code.
>
> I don't think so, I don't see any method by which these blocks of code
> could or would be used to access a webpage.
>
> >> Should I worry about these blocks of code?
> >
> >Yes, you should.
> >Do not trust any unsolicited code and be cautious of that
> >which you did request.
>
> It sounds to me like this "code" might be a pgp key or signature.  Even if
> it is malicious code then chances are pretty good that it isn't going to
> run on FreeBSD.  I don't think there are too many e-mail distributed
> viruses for Unix like systems, I can't think of a single one.  If you're
> really curious then install vm ware and run the code inside there, it
> should provide a very secure sandbox.
>
> Worry Factor 2 - nothing much to worry about
>

Thanks.

Andrew