Volume 3, No. 16. August 22,2003
Sarah's Turn
Worm's
meat
Hello readers, this is Sarah, THE LOOP’s webmistress, database manager
and e-mail notification sender (above with office cat, Mollie).
As we put together this LOOP issue with its major stories on the power outage
and the upcoming American Zoo and Aquarium Association Conference my thoughts
naturally turned to worms—specifically computer worms. As a web-based business
we are always concerned with anything that could impact either ourselves or
our readers, and we take several steps to prevent that from happening:
=> We don’t maintain our own servers. We have an outstanding
web host in LexiConn who does that meticulous task for us with real people monitoring
the servers 24 hours, seven days a week.
=> We operate on Macintosh computers with Macintosh operating systems.
Apples are not guaranteed worm/virus-free computers (contrary to Mac users’
popular beliefs), but most outbreaks don’t harm them.
=> We use Earthlink and Netscape to send you THE LOOP’s e-mail
notifications. Again, neither one is guaranteed worm/virus-free, but they rarely
seem to be affected or infected by the attacks.
=> We have Norton AntiVirus software loaded on our computers. We request
and receive virus detection/removal updates once a week, every week—before
we send your LOOP notification. This anti-virus software also checks all of
our e-mails as we send them out and all incoming e-mails as they are downloaded
into our Inboxes.
Occasionally you will receive a message from someone @gettheloop.com that may
contain or appear to contain a virus or worm. Most worms spread by invading
an infected computer’s e-mail program and automatically sending itself
to addresses it finds there. What you are getting most likely came from other
computers, not ours. Because we send notifications to more than 7,500 e-mail
addresses, we have been inundated with worms this week from people who have
our e-mail address in their infected computers. Nevertheless, we have stomped
on all those we receive.
What can you do to prevent worms and viruses infecting your computer?
=> Install an anti-virus program on your computer and set it to regularly
and automatically update it’s virus detection/elimination/repair capabilities.
Also ensure that it checks your incoming and outgoing e-mails as well as any
files or programs you download.
=> Make sure your e-mail is set up so that you don’t automatically
see previews of the messages. As with many worms and viruses, the current Sobig.F
virus uses apparently innocent subject lines such as “Your details,”
“Thank you!,” “Re: Approved,” “Re: Your application,”
“Re: Wicked screensaver” or “Re: That movie.” Unless you
recently sent an e-mail to a trusted source with that subject line DELETE THE
MESSAGE without opening it. Then go into your Trash/Deleted Items folder and
DELETE THE MESSAGE AGAIN.
=> Set up your e-mail so that you can see when messages arrive with
attachments. Be suspicious of messages with an unusual subject line AND an attachment
with the following extensions: .pif, .scr, .zip, .exe. Always DOUBLE DELETE
those messages without ever opening them. If you should happen to open the message
DON’T OPEN ANY ATTACHMENTS Again, DOUBLE DELETE.
=> If a suspicious e-mail comes from gettheloop.com, DOUBLE DELETE
it and please let me know so I can investigate the cause and take action.
Having outlined our process to keep worms and viruses at bay, I also want to
let know that we are also committed to protecting your privacy and keeping spam
in the pantry where it belongs. Below are some of the ways we accomplish those
responsibilities.
We protect your privacy:
=> By sending out our e-mail notifications with the addresses in “Blind
Copy” so no one can see anyone else’s e-mail address.
=> By not selling, giving away, or otherwise publishing or publicizing
our database of e-mail addresses.
=> By crosscut shredding all papers that contain any personal information
(even if it is just your name) once we no longer require them.
=> By working only with companies that operate with strict security
policies and effective security measures.
We support and stay in compliance with anti-spam requirements:
=> Our e-mail notifications are sent from Eric Minton’s e-mail
account and have eric@gettheloop.com as the return address.
=> A human being (normally yours truly) manually sends out the 7,500+
e-mail notifications. They go out in batches of 15 blind-copy addresses per
e-mail notification and take us three to four hours to send.
=> If you ever want to Unsubscribe the instructions are at the bottom
of our e-mail notifications, and I personally take care of each request to unsubscribe.
=> If you have installed an anti-spam filter, please make sure you
have included @gettheloop.com in your list of approved e-mail addresses.
THE LOOP team has worked long and hard to earn your trust, and we intend to
continue to do everything we can to keep that trust. If you ever have any questions
or problems don’t hesitate to contact me at sarah@gettheloop.com.
THE LOOP is written and produced by Eric Minton, Minton Enterprises, LLC. To see more examples of Eric Minton's work and Minton Enterprises services, visit www.ericminton.com.
©2003, Minton Enterprises
LLC
All rights reserved