Are suspicious mails, safer to check offline.

[venus_n]

Are suspicious mails that may contain hidden javascript code or tracking cookies etc or something to get information, safer to read offline? By offline i mean, they will be transfered into some windows mail client like outlook express, while i am online. And then, i will disconnect from internet. Then i will read those mails on the mail client like outlook express.

Will that be just safer or completely safe?

[tashi]

Hello venus_n,

Something to do with this topic? http://forums.whatthetech.com/index.php?showtopic=114804&pid=691025&st=45&#entry691025

(http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=60132)

[venus_n]

Ok, i think i will ask in that forum because its related to browsers & email.

(By the way, no it wasn't related to that thread , this one is a general question on general information on how things work).

Thanks.

[doug1947]

Let's just conclude with an answer to the question here.

If you have somehow determined that an email has suspicious content, it doesn't matter if you are online or offline when you have your email client (outlook, etc.) open the content.
If the content contains Adware, Spyware, Virus, trojan, "your" machine gets infected the moment you open the suspicous content (a zipped file, an .exe file, an infected .pdf, a word or excel file with macro)

So just don't open it.

It is true that if you are not online, the malicious content cannot immediately start sending itself to others from your address book. But the next time you go online, any malicious content will try to do its thing.

Play it safe. Don't open content from suspicious emails.

Best Regards

[venus_n]

Thankyou, what i mean is just by reading the email, (if i dont open the content in it or click on any links but), just by reading the email. I have heard even that might harm. So, Will just reading be safe offline on my mail client?

[doug1947]

The answer is still "NO". Just reading (allowing infected content to be displayed) will infect your machine whether you are reading online or offline.

Actually, I think you are asking the wrong question.
So please let me suggest to you more of what you need to know about potentially infectious email content.

You apparently already know that "attached files" can contain Malware and therefore should not be opened unless you know and trust the sender, and know in advance that they will be sending an attached file.

But there are also other ways that Malware can be transmitted to your machine from email.
__________________

These days people like to be "fancy" with their email.

Colored Font
Emoticons
Backgrounds and Borders
Animated characters
Embedded pictures
Numbered or bolded lists (like this list)


All of the above features (and others) are what I mean by "fancy".

These features require .html coding in the email to display the colors, pictures, background, borders, animations, etc.

.HTML coding can carry MALWARE infection!
Your machine can be infected simply by allowing these features to be displayed, even in preview pane. (whether you are online or offline)
________________________________

The best solution:

You can protect your machine from being infected by any malware that might be hidden in these fancy features, by preventing fancy features from being displayed at all, ever.

I have set my own Outlook Email options to:
Read all standard mail in plain text
(I've included a screenshot from my Outlook 2003, yours should be similar but a bit different depending upon your version of Outlook or other email client you may use)

Another "fancy" thing that some people and many businesses include in Email is a request to be notified as soon as the person receiving the email opens it.
That way, the sender knows that you've opened and read their message.
I set my Outlook to:
Ask me before sending a response
(mostly I tend to refuse to send those responses)
Again here is a screen shot attached to show you where to set this preference.

You can set your Email Preferences: (I recommend: read all standard mail in plain text)
Outlook - Tools - Options - Preferences(tab) - Email Options
and
Outlook - Tools - Options - Preferences(tab) - Email Options -tracking Options(button)
______________________-

So what do you get for your efforts?

Well... Your emails will be "plain text", just like this typed sentence.
You can safely read all of what the person or business has written to you, but you will not see any of the fancy stuff that they may have wanted to display.

If the sender "did use fancy stuff" when they composed their email to you, your Outlook will inform you and ask if you want to display the fancy stuff, and even to display it as a webpage for full effect.

My advice: Don't. Even friends may unknowingly send something that has been infected.
________________________

So the question is not "Online" or "Offline" viewing.
Instead, it is "Plain Text" or "HTML enhanced display"

I always go with "Plain Text"

[venus_n]

Thanks for your effort and the information, just another question. There maybe other coding as well besides just .HTML. For example javascript? What if we disable .HTML (and hence see plain text) , can't we still get other codings like javascript that extract your information, in the mail, just by reading it?

I mean can't the javascript (and probably other codings) get executed even if we disable HTML, while reading the emails?

[doug1947]

Plain Text is the way to go.

Without any of the fancy display stuff, there are no "clickables", so you won't be having any problems unless you open a strange attached file, and that is "never" recommended.

[venus_n]

Thankyou.