Does Mail's Quick Look Attachment prevent you from downloading spam?

Question

Level 1

4 points

Does Mail's Quick Look Attachment prevent you from downloading spam?

Hi Helpful Folk,

Does Mail's "Quick Look Attachment" feature prevent you from downloading spam?

There are times when I'm trying to determine if an email with an attachment is legitimate, but I'm afraid to "Quick Look Attachment" the attachment for fear that it somehow temporarily downloads a virus or something else sinister.

Anyone know if the Quick Look feature is basically the same as downloading a harmful file?

I can't find any online articles, including on Apple.com's support pages, that address this.

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Sep 7, 2016 1:35 PM

Reply

Answer 1

MacBink Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 8, 2016 8:17 AM in response to Csound1

Thanks. My real question, however, is whether in Apple Mail, does Quick Look-ing at an attachment make you susceptible to spam? Or is Quick Look a way to prevent you from activating a malicious attachment (say, a .doc file)?

And in case it's not clear, here's a screen grab of where I use Quick Look in Mail:

Reply

Answer 2

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,762 points

Sep 13, 2016 2:46 PM in response to MacBink

I just adjusted that setting in Mail, but realized that it would also not load images in the (many) email newsletters that I subscribe to. I'm trying it out today, but may need to switch back to avoid having to click "Load Remote Content" for every email with server-based/HTML images.

The price of freedom! Thanks again.

Well, I haven't received that type of spam without it going directly to the Junk folder. So, for me, there isn't much of a threat will loading the images. However, if you get that type of spam and it is not filtered, then it may be more useful to keep it from loading the images.

However, it is not installing some malware. It would just verify that your email address is likely valid, making it more valuable to sell, thus possibly resulting in more spam coming your way.

Reply

Answer 3

VikingOSX

Level 10

124,088 points

Sep 8, 2016 4:53 AM in response to MacBink

Click once on the From email address to see if it actually came from a legitimate domain. For a period of time, I was receiving very official looking emails from Apple, and still do for FedEx, and these are phishing scams. The From email address was from mars, not from these official corporate domains.

Reply

Answer 4

MacBink Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 8, 2016 7:37 AM in response to Barney-15E

Thank you @Barney-15E. But seeing (and downloading) the attachment is not the same as running an attachment, say that's an .exe file? Or is it?

I guess I'm trying to figure out if using Quicklook on a malicious attachment will activate said attachment. I wouldn't run an .exe file attachment, fyi.

But there are times when someone's cell phone text comes to me as an email with a .txt attachment. In one case, it was my friend, but I couldn't see the .txt content until I Quick Looked it.

Reply

Answer 5

MacBink Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 8, 2016 7:47 AM in response to Csound1

Thank you @Csound1. So it appears that you and @Barney-15E differ on whether using Quick Look has downloaded the file? Are you aware of any Apple documentation (or web articles from reputable sources) that answers this?

Reply

Answer 6

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,762 points

Sep 9, 2016 8:43 AM in response to MacBink

OS X is not windows. It doesn't run arbitrary code embedded in the attachments.

Your attachment in mail is already downloaded to your computer. It doesn't matter how you look at it it is already there.

The only spam you'd be susceptible to using Mail would be if you do not turn off loading of remote images. Remote images are like the images on a webpage. They are loaded from a server when you view them. Spammers will embed them in an email just like a webpage and when they see that you loaded them off of their server they know that you are a live email address so you may be susceptible to receiving more spam.

An attachment is not a Remote image, and cannot send any information back to the sender.

Reply

Answer 7

MacBink Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 9, 2016 8:50 AM in response to Barney-15E

Thanks! That clears up a lot.

I just adjusted that setting in Mail, but realized that it would also not load images in the (many) email newsletters that I subscribe to. I'm trying it out today, but may need to switch back to avoid having to click "Load Remote Content" for every email with server-based/HTML images.

The price of freedom! Thanks again.

Reply

Answer 8

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,762 points

Sep 8, 2016 4:44 AM in response to MacBink

If you can QuickLook the attachment, it is already downloaded.

Reply

Answer 9

Csound1

Level 9

60,063 points

Sep 8, 2016 4:47 AM in response to MacBink

No, but it will let you look at the spam you downloaded.

Reply

Answer 10

Csound1

Level 9

60,063 points

Sep 8, 2016 4:57 AM in response to VikingOSX

I get the Fedex ones even now, they are quite convincing until you check where they actually came from, according to them most of the packages in the western world are waiting for me to pickup

Reply

Answer 11

MacBink Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 8, 2016 7:43 AM in response to VikingOSX

Thanks, @VikingOSX. I do check the "real" email address, since I know you can change how it appears. In terms of phishing, I also never click on survey links.

Reply