E-mail question....please help!

[Superfly]

OK,

I just got a SPAM e-mail with the name of my dog as the subject. My dog's name is not very common, yet that was the only word in the subject line. So, naturally, I opened it, thinking it was a notice from thevet or something and it was an ad for Viagra.

How in the hell are they getting that info? Is it just a coincidence or is somebody pulling info off my computer?

Brian

[BurtWorm]

1. Has your dog been using the computer when you're not aware of it?

:shrug:

[Dookus]

2. Probably a coincidence....

they use all sorts of random words/names in the titles of those things.

Either that or your dog's been ordering Viagra on-line.

[ET Awful]

3. Well if you hadn't named your dog ERECTION you wouldn't get those emails

:) :) :)

[Superfly]

4. Some serious help would be greatly appreciated...

although the levity is making me LOL

[meti57b]

5. are you using your dog's name for a username, anywhere?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

8. ...or a PASSWORD? (nt)

[Superfly]

11. No and no to both questions.

[Mikimouse]

6. I have had my suspicions about others getting through the server

firewall as well. I access the web through a secure server, but recently when I initiated my shutdown process, I received a message stating that there were others logged in to my computer and did I want to continue shutting down? I am the only one that uses this machine. My wife has an account, but never uses it (she's in Louisiana anyway and does not know about things like tcp/ip addresses). I thought that the message was anomalous, but it happened again the day before yesterday, so I suspect that someone is getting through the firewall. I informed the system administrator, but have not yet received a response. The same thing may be happening to you.

[Superfly]

7. I received a notice from my Norton Firewall

saying that somebody was trying to access my computer and if I wanted to grant access. I denied, of course...I wonder if that was it?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

9. Virus-infected machines trying to scan your IP for shared directories

Port 137 and a few others. I see those all the time when I run iptraf. Since I use Linux and I don't run unneeded services, I just ignore them.

[Liberal Classic]

13. It is highly unlikely that spam message is related to your firewall alert

This is just some loser doing port scan of your computer. I would go into preferences and tell your firewall software to automatically deny access from foreign computers without asking if it is ok. There is no legitimate reason for anyone else to be talking to your computer from the outside. I have a cable connection and people are constantly trying to monkey with me. Port scans and hack attempts are common, to say nothing of all the traffic generated by worm-injected machines.

[Liberal Classic]

10. As others have said...

One of the methods spammers use in getting around email filters is to put totally random false information in the "From:" and "Subject:" lines. Senders and subjects are generated through searching the dictionary and lists of proper names. If your dog's name is a proper name or a dictionary word then there is nothing to worry about.

[Superfly]

12. Good...hopefully that's the case...

although there is nothing sensitive on my computer...