To whoever wrote that Mytob virus that’s currently spamming itself out:

Your attempt at social engineering is a commendable one, but it fails on so many counts. Let me dissect it so you can see how misguided it is.

From: service@zone38.net
Subject: You have successfully updated your password
To: tom@zone38.net

Funny, considering that my catch-all account is both service@zone38.net and tom@zone38.net. I don’t know why I’d ever send a message to myself like that. And I don’t remember ever doing so. Must be an amnesiac.

Dear user tom,

Here we go with this ‘tom’ stuff again. Pretty strange, considering you’re just grasping at straws and not even using e-mail addresses that were published anywhere…

You have successfully updated the password of your Zone38 account.

…OK, then supposing there really was a separate ‘tom’ user ID, how the $expletive would I be able to get the message? Then again, I have heard of tech support people who were this stupid, so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised… except in that case, the e-mail account couldn’t actually be accessed.

If you did not authorize this change or if you need assistance with your account, please contact Zone38 customer service at: service@zone38.net

Good idea. It’d make more sense than opening the random attachment to the e-mail that’s not mentioned anywhere in the actual body.

Thank you for using Zone38!
The Zone38 Support Team

Support ‘team’? I guess I have multiple personalities too.

+++ Attachment: No Virus (Clean)
+++ Zone38 Antivirus – www.zone38.net

Attachment: email-password.zip (71.5 KB)

I have my own antivirus program too?! Or maybe I just licensed something and rebranded it, but I don’t remember doing that either…

Oh, yeah, and I know the so-called ‘important information’ that’s attached is actually a virus. But supposing it wasn’t, it would make sense to have the information stored in the file as plain text so those of us in the less than 10 percent using non-Windows platforms wouldn’t have to launch a virtual Windows machine to view it. And let me tell you, ‘KuNgBiM’, inserting your pseudonym in the executable five times makes it pretty easy to tell who’s at least partially responsible…