As the risks associated with the use of the Internet and in particular email, we continue on our attempt to educate you our v

NEWS LETTER

Week ending October 23rd, 2004

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As the risks associated with the use of the Internet, in particular email, increases, we continue in our attempt to educate you, our valued customer, on how to protect yourself and reduce the level of vulnerability to such attacks. Also we will attempt to help you to understand how to use these security features to your advantage and not allow them to be an inconvenience to you. This Newsletter particularly addresses issues with Outlook Express 6 and contains the hyperlink to a Microsoft Knowledge Base article on the virus protection features of the mail client located at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;291387 . As always there is no one solution to keeping your email secure and your system secure from email exploits. Always ensure that you update your system regularly. Ensure that your anti-virus software is kept up-to-date and that you have the latest security updates for your Microsoft Operating System by scheduling automatic updates of these products. Also be very cautious and observant of any strange emails containing attachments from unknown persons and from known persons that you are not expecting.

HTML EMAILS

Though HTML mails are attractive there are inherent security risks associated with them. A large number of security threats including virus, trojans and worms are distributed through html emails as they have the ability to execute malicious actions once you view the email. Spammers often use html mails in an attempt to make them appealing to recipients. Please refer to the knowledge base article sections: “Using Internet Explorer Security Zone to Disable Active Content in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) E-mail” and “How to Read all Messages in Plain Text (Service Pack 1 Only)”. This section addresses how to reduce the risks of exploits through HTML emails.

AVOIDING DISTRIBUTING MAILS

If your computer becomes infected it may be used to spread the infection by automatically sending mails from your mail client. In Outlook Express 6 you may prevent this behaviour by displaying a confirmation message so you can decide whether the mail is sent or not. Refer to “How to Prevent Programs from Sending E-mail Without Your Approval” in the knowledge base article.

FILE BLOCKING

By default OE6 blocks access to potentially dangerous files based on the file type. By doing this there is an additional level of security against some malicious programmes, however it might present a problem by blocking legitimate and harmless files. This inconvenience is minuscule relative to the potential benefits. Refer to the sections: “Using the Internet Explorer Unsafe File List to Filter E-mail Attachments and How to Determine When Outlook Express Has Blocked an Attachment”.

Though we believe that this information will be useful to you, it is provided as is and we provide no guarantees nor do we accept any liability for any harm done by following any of these steps or for any harm, which this information does not prevent.

For assistance or queries regarding accounts

Call our Customer Service Representatives at 663-TREK (8735)

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