Another real concern related to received e-mail security is attachments. Attackers can send
you malware, viruses, Trojan horses and all sorts of nasty programs. The best defense against
e-mail borne malware is to not open anything from anyone you don’t know. Never open a
file with the extension .exe or .scr, as these are extensions that will launch an executable file
that may infect your computer with a virus. For good measure, any files you receive should be
saved to your hard drive and scanned with an antivirus program. Beware of files that look like
a well known file type, such as a zip file. Sometimes attackers can disguise a file by changing
the icon or hiding the file extension so you don’t know it is an executable.
