Outlook 2010 - Possible False Positive on Stay Smart Online email?

[ausgumbie]

Hi all

I'm in Queensland, Australia. I use Outlook 2010 with my hotmail and other email accounts.

In Australia, it's possible to subscribe to email updates and newsletters from a government site dedicated to safe internet use: (Stay Smart Online: Home | Stay Smart Online ).

I subscribe to it and receive frequent alerts and newsletters. Today I received one flagged with a pink warning bar (“This might be a phishing message and is potentially unsafe…” - screen shot attached).

I didn't open the email but deleted it and have left it parked in my Deleted folder. Then, I took a series of screen shots of the images in the Deleted preview pane and sent these off as a pdf to Stay Smart to see if they can offer any advice.

Meanwhile, I thought I'd ask if anyone on SevenForums knows whether Outlook 2010 is in the habit of giving false positives (perhaps based on the content of a bona-fide email) or whether there's any way to test the email?

Many thanks

ausgumbie

 

[ausgumbie]

Apologies for "bumping" myself, but I thought I'd update from my own inquiry to Stay Smart Online.

A representative from Stay Smart Online replied confirming that the email in question is not a phishing email, that SSO's technical team has looked into this issue and that it appears two particular links within the Alert caused the issue with Outlook. These links, it would seem, allow broadband users to access the settings of their modems and apparently most anti-virus/security programs seem to think that any email containing these links is trying to access a user's modem.

This would seem to answer two questions I either put or implicitly put. (1) Q = Was the email in question sent by a bona fide source? (A = Yes, it would seem so). (2) Q = Did it contain malicious script, links, attachments etc? (A = No, according to the explanation received).

However, I'd like to leave the door open for a while for comments (if any) regarding any "over-sensitivity" (or not) on the part of Outlook 2010 or other Microsoft Office or Windows products that might be of benefit to Forum visitors.

Cheers

ausgumbie