By Katie Keith, Service Coordinator for AZBS
From time to time, we all receive virus alerts to our email claiming to destroy your data, hack your email, bank accounts, and every other digital violation you can fathom. Frequently, these notifications are hoaxes and present no threat whatsoever, however, some virus notifications are legitimate, so these alerts should not be taken lightly. Your first line of defense is to never open an email from an unexpected sender, or with a suspicious subject. If you are unsure whether an email is legitimate, prior to opening, you can search to verify its authenticity.
One of these resources is through Sophos:
- Go to Sophos.com, and search for “Hoaxes” in the “Threat Center” tab. From here you can search a hoax by type or name.
- Below, I’ve chosen to search by Hoaxes by name, and the letter A, and choose a virus, in this case “A moment of silence.” In the right column, you will see a threat level evaluation based on this scale:
- LOW RISK – There is little chance of this vulnerability being actively exploited by malware.
- MEDIUM RISK – There is a possibility of this vulnerability being actively exploited by malware.
- HIGH RISK – There is a strong possibility of this vulnerability being actively exploited by malware.
- CRITICAL RISK – This vulnerability will almost certainly be actively exploited by malware.
You can also select the option to learn more, which indicates what effect it has on your system.
If you are having any issues determining whether an email is a legitimate threat through these resources, please contact us at 312.474.9400. Please do not forward potentially malicious emails to support@azbs.com.
