Re: [LUG] Email security

[Rob Beard <rob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 20/04/10 17:23, NW wrote:
> Simon Williams wrote:
> > 2. By any chance is she getting chain emails from people who are too
> > dumb to trim headers and use BCC?
> No, I don't think so. But how would I know?
It's usually joke e-mails, virus 'warning' e-mails or e-mails with cute 
pictures that someone will send to say 20 or so people in their address 
book (sometimes more, sometimes less) and the recepient will simply hit 
the forward button and send it on to 20 or so of their friends, rinse 
and repeat.
Then one of your wife's friends could get the e-mail after it's been 
forwarded on about 20 times, and it'll be pages long with lots of e-mail 
addresses contained in it where folks have simply forwarded on and not 
removed all the list of e-mail addresses before sending on.
I generally send a stroppy e-mail back to friends I know who do this 
with my e-mail address or just give them my hotmail address.
If you try forwarding this e-mail on you'll see what I mean, for example 
this is what appeared in your message which I clicked the forward button 
(I've replaced the e-mail addresses with X's)...
Subject: Re: [LUG] Email security
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2010 17:23:06 +0100
From: NW <xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: <xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

You'll find e-mails with multiple lines like this, often referencing 
tens or hundreds of e-mail addresses.
If these people simply put the recipients in the bcc box then no one 
else will get everyone else's e-mail address (still not an ideal 
solution if the recipient forwards it on blindly though).
Oh and it's not just friends who do this, I had the same from one of my 
suppliers who e-mailed me and a whole load of other customers of theirs 
and put the addresses in the To: box.
You'll find another example of it on The Register...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/20/ecrm_people/

Rob


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