NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.

Forum Discussion

Screechey21's avatar
Screechey21
Follower
Mar 30, 2018
Solved

Bogus e-mail

I just recieved what looks like a genuine e-mail that begins with "We've improved your security. Please download the latest firmware to stay up-to-date. " Directly below this it says "LEARN HOW TO ...
  • antinode's avatar
    Mar 30, 2018

    > I just recieved what looks like a genuine e-mail that begins with
    > "We've improved your security. [...]

       I got one, too.  As shown by information in the e-mail header, mine
    came from "mta2.e.netgear.com (136.147.187.62)", which is whence a
    legitimate such message might come.  In-line pictures in these forums
    are delayed untl a moderator approves, so I can't (yet) see what you
    got, and, in any case, the important stuff is not visible in a picture.
    The important stuff is in the e-mail header, and the actual link
    target(s), not in a picture of the e-mail message.

       The message which I got looks genuine, too.  Because it is.  I don't
    know what you got, but I suspect that it's similar.

    > [...] this e-mail is most likely fake so DO NOT click the link as it
    > is most likely mallware.

       Not really.  When Netgear has some new firmware which is supposed to
    solve some security problem for some device model, it typically notifies
    every Netgear owner whose e-mail address is on record, whether or not
    the update applies to any device owned by the recipient.  And the
    message doesn't say that, so victims tend to worry when no applicable
    update is found.  It does, however, say the following:

          For more information about the security enhancements, please visit
          our Security Advisory Page and enter your model number in the
          Security Advisory Search box, then press Enter.

       That "Security Advisory Page" link also points to a "netgear.com"
    address, so there's no particular reason to suspect it, either.

       Perhaps it would be more helpful to learn how to identify actual
    problems _before_ posting "bogus" panicky warnings about legitimate
    (although lame) notifications from Netgear.