Within the last four hours we have been made aware of a trojan that is getting through our anti-virus scanner undetected. Once we were able to determine the file types that were attached to the emails, we blocked those kinds of attachments from being delivered to the server. Doing so also resulted in our being able to compile a list of sources of the offending messages, and we have been busy blocking email from scores of IP addresses.
Although we do scan both inbound and outbound email in real time for viruses, we do very strongly recommend that you have an anti-virus program installed on your local computers so that if anything does get through, it will protect your machines. Please remember that unsolicited attachments from unknown senders are extremely risky for you to open; even attachments from known senders are risky; please contact the sender through some other method — e.g., a quick phone call or text message — to confirm that they sent it and that it is safe to open. Even then you should first ensure your anti-virus software has been updated, save the file to your hard drive, and then manually scan it for viruses. Only if you have carried out all of the above should you consider opening the file.
Please remember that the responsibility for the safety of your computer and your data is ultimately yours.
We expect that the anti-virus vendor will update their virus signatures in due course. Until then we will be blocking all attachments that look the same as this particular outbreak. If you have a correspondent who needs to get a blocked attachment through, please tell them to compress the file and send that attachment instead.
If you have any questions, please contact NinerNet support. Thank-you.
