Computer viruses by e-mail
Computer viruses are a major threat to computers and the data stored on them. Computer viruses are small pieces of software that attach themselves unnoticed to another program and can thus be executed on other people’s computers. They often arrive on your computer as an e-mail attachment.
From here, they spread, modify or spy on data, or perform other destructive actions on your computer or network.
Protection against computer viruses
In a university, an e-mail is usually checked (“scanned”) for viruses in two places: centrally when you receive the e-mail from the Internet, and additionally on your computer when you open the e-mail.
In addition, ITMC offers anti-virus software that can be downloaded for free here.
Which is why you should still be careful:
- There is no protection program that can eliminate all viruses
- Situations are conceivable in which the virus scanner cannot work, e.g. if an e-mail is encrypted
- Just looking at an e-mail can activate a virus
Attention
Therefore you should:
- do not blindly trust email content and file attachments,
- as a matter of principle, do not open any unknown or strange-looking e-mails - also bear in mind that sender addresses can be forged at will with little effort,
- do not open documents and programs from unknown senders without first verifying their trustworthiness,
- Always choose the “text only” setting in your email program to reduce the risk of virus execution when viewing an email alone.