Risks of E-mail.

 

 

  

E-mail may be sent to the wrong address by any sender or receiver.  It may also be easier to forge an e-mail than handwritten or signed papers. Copies of e-mail may exist even after the sender or the receiver has deleted his or her copy.  The e-mail service providers have a right to archive and inspect e-mails. It can be intercepted, altered, or used without detection or authorization. This can be used to spread computer viruses. Lastly, e-mail delivery is not 100% guaranteed.




Email Worms: Referred as mass mailing worms. Infection by an email worm can occur when you open an attachment containing a worm. Often attachments can appear to be harmless as they come from a contact you know, however, that contact's email client may have been infected by the worm. When you open the attachment containing the worm, your email client becomes infected and starts sending the worm to contacts in your address book. The worm can therefore spread throughout the Internet at a great rate.
Malicious Attachment: a serious security risk today is the result of malicious executables through email attachments. A malicious executable is defined to be a program that performs a malicious act, such as compromising a system's security, damaging a system or obtaining sensitive information without the users permission.