Beware Fake Microsoft Patch Received in Email   10/17/2008 - 566 views, 1 Comment

Most versions of this spam read approximately as follows:

“Please notice that Microsoft company has recently issued a Security Update for OS Microsoft Windows. The update applies to the following OS versions: Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows Millenium, Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows Vista.

Please notice, that present update applies to high-priority updates category. In order to help protect your computer against security threats and performance problems, we strongly recommend you to install this update.”

The spam is ’signed’ by Steve Lipner, which is the real name of a real person at Microsoft that the spammer is using to lend credibility to the spam (even though the poor use of the English language should be a tip-off).

In reality, Microsoft never sends out updates by email; to update your Microsoft computer system, you need to go to the Microsoft update center.