Break the Chain

We get them all the time, especially from relatives, those annoying Chain E-mails. Sometimes it might be a prayer, cute animated kittens, or even a warning about the next government conspiracy.

Truth be told, they are nothing more but a tool for spammers and hackers. Now before you say anything, I know your Aunt Margie is not a hacker. She is however, unknowingly aiding spammers and hackers by forwarding the e-mail to "At Least 8 People". How is this aiding the malicious users of the internet? By the use of e-mail headers.

Headers are located in every e-mail and a hacker or spammer just needs to simply view them to gain knowledge of every e-mail address that the chain e-mail was sent to. Hackers can then "Spoof" the e-mail address. By "Spoofing" I mean send out e-mails with malicious code, and make it look like it came from one of the e-mail addresses listed in the header. If the Hacker wanted to be even more malicious, he can look at the headers and send each e-mail address a virus payload using one of the many ever changing tricks in the Hackers toolkit.

Lets say you get a chain e-mail with a sparkly image of an angel wishing you good fortune and telling you that Jesus loves you. Jesus may in fact love you, but the hacker that created this image really doesn't care a thing about you. The animated image is known as a Gif or .gif file. The file itself may, and in some cases does, posses code to exploit your e-mail account or deliver a virus payload.

Spammers on the other hand can use the headers and basic info found in the "FWD" section of the e-mail to flood you Inbox with ads and garbage.

This is why the chain needs to be broken, for the safety of your Aunt Margie, Grandma, Mom, or whoever else is sending you chain e-mails.

If you really want to do some good, send this article to at least 8 people who constantly send you Chain E-mails, educate them, and help Break the Chain.