Companies that produce antivirus solutions can have a difficult time keeping up on the latest releases of viruses. A lag time often exists between when a virus first appears and when the companies release a new virus definition to block the virus. Plus, there's usually an even greater lag time before users download the definitions. Add to that, antivirus solutions can have different definitions of what constitutes a virus. So, depending on what solution you have, a virus could slip through or a legitimate file or message could be identified incorrectly. And then there is spyware. Did you know that spyware is not a virus and the average antivirus software doesn't protect you from spyware? 

So what can Wi-Phye do to help protect your business? To start, we take an open approach to meeting the antivirus and spyware challenge, creating the best solution to fit each customer. 

Learn About Viruses

Spoofing your email: When Virii use it

The Klez virus has the capability to spoof the email addresses it sends itself from. Instead of mailing itself out using the address of the person infected, it takes a random name from the infected person's address book and mails itself out as that person. This insidious behavior makes it impossible to determine which infected machine sent the email to you.

Symantec has this on its website:
This worm often uses a technique known as "spoofing." When it performs its email routine it can use a randomly chosen address that it finds on an infected computer as the "From:" address. Numerous cases have been reported in which users of uninfected computers received complaints that they sent an infected message to someone else.

There are some ways to avoid such a virus.

1. Never open an attachment received via email if you didn't know it was being sent to you. Separate the email into a different folder, then email the person it came from to confirm the contents. You are as likely to receive an email virus from someone you do know as you are from someone you don't know; nearly all email viruses spread by mailing themselves to whomever they find in your address book.

2. Get a good, updated anti-virus and scan every program you download before you run it. Get one that updates itself automatically, and also ask your email host what they have as far as server side technology for virus protection.

Spoofing your email: When People use it

There are plenty of people with too much time on their hands who send emails out to people spoofing the return address. Why do they do this? There are many reasons, most of them involving some kind of mischief. Some people would like to discredit the person being spoofed by sending some truly vile message to the recipient, an insult to the boss perhaps. It's the same mentality you see in people who knock on your front door and then run before you can answer it.

Sometimes email spoofing is used to do what hackers call "social engineering". You get an email from your web site's administrator, or from your ISP. The email asks you to go to a web page and enter your password, or to get you to change your password to one of their choosing. You might receive an email that asks for detailed information on a secret company project which appears to come from your boss, but instead comes from your company's competitor. Many well-known companies are daily victims of email spoofing, either accidently with a virus, or deliberately. Lavasoft, for example, is a common victim of email spoofing.

There is really no way to prevent receiving a spoofed email. If you get an odd-looking email from someone, there are ways of telling if it is fake. The simplest way would be to simply reply to it and ask for clarification. If that is not an option, you could look at the headers to see where the email originated from. You should also exercise some common sense. If the email is outrageously insulting, asks for something highly confidential, or just plain doesn't make any sense, find out if it really is "from" the person it says it's "from".