Email Virus

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What Does Email Virus Mean?

An email virus is a virus that is sent with or attached to email communications. While many different types of email viruses work in different ways, there also are a variety of methods used to counteract such challenging cyberattacks.

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Techopedia Explains Email Virus

Email viruses run the gamut – from creating pop-ups to crashing systems or stealing personal data. Email viruses also vary in how they are presented. For example, a sender of an email virus may be unknown to a user, or a subject line may be filled with nonsense. In other cases, a hacker may cleverly disguise an email as being from a trusted and known sender.

In terms of solutions, anti-virus advocates try to help the public avoid viruses by reminding users to use caution when opening unsolicited emails. Spam filters and other tools also help cut down on the spread of email viruses. Anti-virus programs and firewalls are also helpful.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.