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Academic Computing

Safe E-Mail Practices

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What to open? What not to open? Is it safe to open an attachment, even if it came from somebody you know? Can you get a virus if you don't open the attachment...the message? These are the most frequently asked questions by e-mail users on Eastern's campus. E-mail can be extremely helpful when communicating with your professors, classmates and colleagues. However, e-mail can harbor dangerous and malicious code. Here are a few tips to practice "safe" e-mailing:

TIPS FOR SAFE E-MAILING

  • Make sure your Virus Scanning software is fully updated.
  • Do not open suspicious e-mails or their attachments.
  • E-mails that contain generic text like "Review the attached file," "See file for details," and "For your review" most likely contain viruses. Always be suspicious of these e-mails. 
  • Turn off the "Preview Pane" option in your e-mail client.
  • Most viruses spread through e-mail do not come from the sender associated with the e-mail message. Viruses are "harvesting" e-mail addresses from infected computers and using those addresses as the senders. This is called "Address Spoofing."

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