MS security updates or spying?

From: Robert Foltyn (foltyn_at_poczta.neostrada.pl)
Date: 11/04/03 

Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2003 22:00:19 +0100

An annoying problem:
Several days ago I installed a fixed connection to the internet so that I
was finally able to download the latest update for my Office Pro.
Very soon afterwards I received an e-mail with "September 2003, Cumulative
Patch" which "resolves all known security vulnerabilities affecting MS
Internet Explorer, MS Outlook and MS Outlook Express" - quotes from the
e-mail. An *.exe file was attached, I ran it, and, apparently, all was fine.
A couple of hours later I received another e-mail, this time with "November
2003, Cumulative Patch". When I ran the attached *.exe file, an info popped
up that I didn't need to install it.
That was some 5 days ago. The problem is that now I'm receiving such
messages SEVERAL times a day. The last thing I got was "November 2007,
Cumulative Patch" (yes 2007!). Another one was "February 1980, Cumulative
Patch". They come, however, from different addresses, e.g.:
Microsoft (ntiwxlpqwxm_sbikyqu@support.msdn.net),
Microsoft Security Bulletin (anseoqkf@bulletin.com),
Microsoft Corporation Internet Security Center
(wtsxpeio-ngpt@confidence.net).
(At least, such names are shown when I hit the reply button)

What should I think of it? What can I do to stop it?

Moreover, at the same time I started to receive "failure notice" e-mails
informing me that some of "my" e-mails couldn't reach the recipients. The
"unavailable addresses" include:
bvimhon@microsoft.com,
ifwgempxnp@microsoft.net,
nplzbxjgkh@america.com,
btrgtvwde@freemail.com,
sxgger@freemail.com, and many more.
Of course, I didn't send any e-mails to any of these addresses.
Practically all of the "returned e-mails" contain a small *.exe file (ca.
100kB), but I wasn't ambitious enough to run any of them.

I don't get any "typical" spam.

The system that I use is Win XP Home Edition. I had to uninstall the
firewall that I had been using before (Zone Alarm) because it caused some
memory error when I installed the new modem.

Any help?

Robert Foltyn, Poland

Quantcast