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Why paper cards are safer than e-cards this Valentine’s Day

Posted in Grumbles, Security on February 14, 2008 at 11:07 am

I can understand the appeal of e-cards: they’re free, instant, and if you want to send them internationally, it’s not a problem. There’s no messing about at the post office or trying to figure out when you need to post a card in order to have it delivered on the right day (does Valentine’s Day affect the post office in the same way Christmas does, for example?) - an e-mail is unlikely to get lost in the post, though it might conceivably get caught up in a spam filter.

But it seems Valentine’s Day, like every other event or holiday in the world, has become a target for malicious types. The latest incarnation of the Storm worm pretends to be an electronic Valentine’s card, and no doubt there’s lots of other malware and spam designed as shy greetings from secret admirers floating around out there on the interwebs. And all the warnings from security firms in the world won’t necessarily protect someone who’s feeling a bit down today and hoping against hope that that e-mail in their inbox might really be from someone they’ve got a crush on.

It all seems a bit mean, really. It’s cruel anyway, sending viruses disguised as news reports or greetings cards or whatever else, but somehow, malicious Valentine’s messages just seem that bit nastier.

It’s a bit late for this now, really, but if you’ve left it until today to sort out sending the object of your affections a token of your love - go and buy them a card from a shop, and deliver it by hand, okay? At least then they’ll know it’s not going to zombify their computer.