[OT] Hello World

[Bob Sneidar]

I don't mean to imply the link Richmond posted was malware. I was responding to the post where Richmond indicated he didn't see what was wrong (I took that to mean clicking a link in an email) to which I responded that what was wrong (with clicking links in general) is that it may seem to be from one person when actually it is not. Given that has actually happened to people on this list, I don't think it is out of the ordinary to be a little cautious. And since he usually signs Richmond, and this time it was signed Richmond Mathewson, I thought it might be a good opportunity to remind everyone on the list who do like to post links, that it is easier to trust when the list member uses a unique signature that no one else could have discerned. 

Sorry for the confusion. 

Bob S


> On Sep 5, 2017, at 11:03 , Richard Gaskin via use-livecode <use-livecode at lists.runrev.com> wrote:
> 
> Bob Sneidar wrote:
> 
> >> On Sep 1, 2017, at 12:16 , Richmond Mathewson wrote:
> >> Page 71
> >>
> > https://s3-eu-west-1.[LINK_ALTERED_FOR_SAFETY].com/rpi-magazines/issues/full_pdfs/000/000/004/original/HelloWorld03.pdf?1504167546
> >> Richmond Mathewson.
> ...
> > It wasn't Richmond, it was your full name. And I DO know what's wrong
> > because my boss, after many urgings not to click the link, clicked the
> > link, and encrypted all the files on our files server. Sure we had a
> > backup, so we recovered all the files but the ones since the last
> > backup.
> 
> @Bob: I think I missed something.  Is the link given above dangerous? I've altered it for safety here, but it would be unusual if it were.
> 
> The link is direct to a PDF (a format which is not entirely without its risks I suppose) but isn't embedded within a page that has JavaScript. Indeed, it's not an an HTML page at all.
> 
> So does the PDF itself contain ransomware, and if so which variant?  And how quickly after clicking the link did the encrypting begin?  I opened that PDF in Chrome an hour ago.  I have multiple backups, but it would be helpful to know if I need to budget time today to prepare for recovery.
> 
> If not, what link are you referring to?
> 
> 
> @Richmond: why do you suppose the publisher doesn't have a domain name?
> 
> -- 
> Richard Gaskin
> Fourth World Systems
> Software Design and Development for the Desktop, Mobile, and the Web