ATTENTION DROPBOX USERS. PROBLEM RESOLVED

[npap]

15.jpg

If you get the message below which is supposed to come from Dropbox, and if you install the "Update", it will corrupt your Root directory and render your system inoperative.
Message:
"You're running an old version of Dropbox, update soon! - Hi D., We see that you're running an old version of Dropbox on your computer,......"

MORE INFORMATION IN THE LINK BELOW

http://www.google.com/search?q=oldversi ... .32660j0j7&
sourceid=chrome&es_sm=0&ie=UTF-8


UPDATE NOTE; THE DROPBOX EMAIL THAT URGES YOU TO UPDATE IS NO LONGER A THREAT TO YOUR PC

The UPDATE mail redirects you to the company's download page now :

15.jpg

I verified this by trying it on an older PC using Mint 16. It did not update but redirected me to the Dropbox download page. I downloaded and saved the .deb file without proceeding with the installation
The only problem is that, although I have version 2.10.27, the installlation offers version 1.6.2, an older version as you can see.

[killer de bug]

Could you please give more details?
Did you read this somewhere? If yes, provide links.
Did you experience this on your computer? If yes, could you please describe what you did?

I don't use dropbox, but what I see here is somewhere between alarming and FUD. Please provide details

[eanfrid]

dropbox 0wns your files anyway

[npap]

Could you please give more details?
Did you read this somewhere? If yes, provide links.
Did you experience this on your computer? If yes, could you please describe what you did?

I don't use dropbox, but what I see here is somewhere between alarming and FUD. Please provide details

Right Smilies,
It is a big problem since there is no way of restoring your corrupted system. You just have to re-install it from your DVD. That is, re-install your root /, formatting it, and leave your Home intact (do not format it but do check it as Home). I am using Mint 17 Cinnamon, by the way.
This is what I got in my Gmail: Dropbox "You're running an old version of Dropbox, update soon! - Hi D., We see that you're running an old version of Dropbox on your computer, 'dias-D1740."

Thinking that this update message was from Dropbox and it should be OK, I clicked on the "UPDATE". and it was too late when I realized that this was removing vital packages like Python...etc, and other files from the root directory.

[jimallyn]

Whenever I get a message saying I need to update something, I go to the website of that something and see what the latest version is. I never trust email notifications.

[killer de bug]

So we are speaking about fishing like emails...

[nomko]

Could you please give more details?
Did you read this somewhere? If yes, provide links.
Did you experience this on your computer? If yes, could you please describe what you did?

I don't use dropbox, but what I see here is somewhere between alarming and FUD. Please provide details

Right Smilies,
It is a big problem since there is no way of restoring your corrupted system. You just have to re-install it from your DVD. That is, re-install your root /, formatting it, and leave your Home intact (do not format it but do check it as Home). I am using Mint 17 Cinnamon, by the way.
This is what I got in my Gmail: Dropbox "You're running an old version of Dropbox, update soon! - Hi D., We see that you're running an old version of Dropbox on your computer, 'dias-D1740."

Thinking that this update message was from Dropbox and it should be OK, I clicked on the "UPDATE". and it was too late when I realized that this was removing vital packages like Python...etc, and other files from the root directory.

Still you don't provide the right info. You're talking like it could happen to anyone using Dropbox but it is just an isolated case: namely your own. You're the first mentioning this and there are so many Linux users who are using Dropbox. So, even my question are the same as killer the bug: provide us with more concrete examples or a website link!

[Habitual]

So we are speaking about fishing like emails...

Click-bait.

[npap]

Alright! It happened to me! What makes you think that most people would be eager to help if they did the same stupid thing as I did.
I hope it hasn't happened to anyone else but let's wait and see.

Greetings from a Linuxmint oldtimer;
npap

[Habitual]

Don't fret.
It's like a right-of-passage.
We've all done it.

Welcome to the Experience Club.

[npap]

Whenever I get a message saying I need to update something, I go to the website of that something and see what the latest version is. I never trust email notifications.

Hello jimallyn,
Good advice.

By the way, I have been using DROPBOX for a long time and I think that it is very reliable. I never had any trouble with it.

[eanfrid]

Thinking that this update message was from Dropbox and it should be OK, I clicked on the "UPDATE". and it was too late when I realized that this was removing vital packages like Python...etc, and other files from the root directory.

This can only happen if:

1/ you start a package manager or give executable rights to an untrusted script you decided to run
2/ decide to run the "update" and to give the root or sudo password
3/ and then accept to remove the packages...

No system will ever protect you against your own stupidity.

This kind of email is obviously a scam/trap/malware and so likely to exclusively target Windows users that I cannot even believe this actually happened to you.

[myglaren]

Can't recall ever receiving an 'update' from dropbox but The Register' did publish a warning that it had been compromised a few months ago.
Very rarely use it though.

[Incentive I.C]

and then accept to remove the packages..

Thats right it should tell you/warn you when you were about to update that. It should have said something along the line of the following will be deleted ....(what ever files and packages it will delete) and you accept or cancel.

Please tell exactly what happened. You just press the update button and this happened? It downloaded a deb right? I am using dropbox right now and I believe I have always update it from the update manager.

so likely to exclusively target Windows users that I cannot even believe this actually happened to you

This

[OrangeShark]

Oh wow, I got that email today and it even knows the name of your computer. The email sender's domain is dropboxmail.com
edit:
Hmm, the Update button just redirects you to the install page. Maybe Dropbox messed up something?

[npap]

Hello my Minty friends,
Though I'm not a newbie, I did make the mistake of clicking on the UPDATE that came to me in my email.
Someone mentioned the fact that in such a case, after clicking on an Update, you are informed that "the following number of packages will be removed and so
many (the number ) will be installed' ,but how is anyone to know what these packages are going to be. By the time the process begins to do the job, you are done!

That's what happened to me my friends.
For God's sake, I don't mean that the DROPBOX software is not good or that the Dropbox people are to be blamed for this situation. This is a hacker's work .
I'm attaching the email message again.

15.jpg

[killer de bug]

only upgrade your softwares using the normal way of doing this: repo + apt or repo + MintUpdate.

[nomko]

A lesson learned for you npap. Never start an uprise or a fuss anywhere before checking the situation twice!
As killer de bug said, all updates for mint will be provided through one official application: namely the Update Manager. I'm using Linux since 2007 and never received any email regarding updating my Linux system!

[npap]

A lesson learned for you npap. Never start an uprise or a fuss anywhere before checking the situation twice!
As killer de bug said, all updates for mint will be provided through one official application: namely the Update Manager. I'm using Linux since 2007 and never received any email regarding updating my Linux system!

by OrangeShark » Mon Aug 18, 2014 12:44 am

Oh wow, I got that email today and it even knows the name of your computer. The email sender's domain is dropboxmail.com
edit:
Hmm, the Update button just redirects you to the install page. Maybe Dropbox messed up something?
OrangeShark


I thought that it would be my duty to warn my friends here so that they should avoid such pitfalls and I never intended to start a dispute.

Thanks anyway.

[grizzler]

When you follow the link in that message (received one this morning), you end up on this download page: https://www.dropbox.com/install
You can download one of the packages there and install it with GDebi. GDebi didn't want to remove anything when it checked the package's dependencies, so I probably could have executed the install without any damage. I didn't do that, of course. I unpacked the package and checked the control and postinst files.

Judging by the postinst file, the package itself is ancient. It doesn't know about anything after Ubuntu's Precise and Debian's Wheezy. My system actually has the same version (1.60) installed already. I assume it's used to download the actual dropbox software to your system. Right now, I don't have time to check what it does exactly. I might do that later. Or I might finally remove the lot as I haven't actually used dropbox in ages...

Quick edit: the package is indeed identical to the one I downloaded originally (same md5sum), so the package itself is harmless on my machine. No idea about new dropbox software, though.
However, because it is ancient and doesn't understand anything of newer installs, it could very well mess up systems that don't know about the ancient junk (everything's nautilus) it carries.