Re: Outlook and irrational virus fears
From: Graeme Nelson (graeme.nelson_at_wairarapa.dhb.i.hate.spam.org.nz)
Date: 07/02/04
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Date: Fri, 02 Jul 2004 14:50:12 +1200
A bunch of hasty replies in this thread, most displaying some knowledge, but most also displaying
some ignorance.
(Note: in this message, I am using the word "virus" to refer to computer viruses, worms, trojans,
and any other such e-nasties.)
Yes, Microsoft Outlook is highly susceptible to e-mail delivered viruses, especially as a lot of
them are written specifically to exploit vulnerabilities in Outlook. Not all Windows e-mail clients
are (equally) vulnerable to e-mail viruses: the Netscape/Mozilla e-mail clients have low or nil
vulnerability, and Pegasus Mail (a very powerful e-mail client) has no vulnerability to viruses.
Note: if you open an attachment in an external program and get infected that way, it is _not_ the
e-mail client's fault.
BTW, the Netscape/Mozilla e-mail clients do very good HTML e-mails as well.
While some firewalls can do virus filtering, this is usually not the best (nor preferred) place for
it. As others have said, virus checking on your e-mail server is a good place for it, but that
depends on what your e-mail server is.
The best option is to use an e-mail content filtering program such as MailMarshal or MIMEsweeper
with an antivirus program "plugged in" to it. And not just any antivirus program: this may seem
obvious, but you want an antivirus program that does an excellent job. (I make this point because I
remember reading a review of some antivirus programs several years ago that rated the best program
as the one with the best "Windows 95 look & feel", not the one that detected the most viruses! - no
joke.) Check out the lists on http://www.virusbulletin.com/ and http://www.icsa.net/ . The 2 I
recommend are NOD32 (from Eset - http://www.nod32.com/) for the best antivirus protection, and AVG
(from Grisoft http://www.grisoft.com/) for good but free antivirus protection. Frequent automatic
updating of virus signatures is a must. Multiple (usually 2) antivirus programs is also something
worth considering. We use MailMarshal with NOD32 and McAfee (it scans for viruses with McAfee then
NOD): one time when a new prolific e-mail virus hit, MailMarshal started stopping the viruses as
soon as they hit us because we block all executables, about 2 hours later NOD started detecting
them, and about another 6 hours later McAfee started detecting them. All business _NEED_ a properly
configured e-mail content filter to reduce the risk of infection via e-mail to as close to zero as
possible.
TTFN.,
Graeme
Richard wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Can someone help me with some information?
>
> I have been using Outlook 2000 successfully for two years now.
>
> Recently, It has come to the attention of our IT staff that I have been
> using this product. The head of our IT staff has unhesitatingly and
> uncategorically forbid me from using this product as I will probably
> cause the demise of the building's network due to virus infestation.
>
> His opinion is based on the fact that he has read somewhere that this
> product is incredibly virus prone.
>
> Now, we receive email viruses here all of the time. We have a firewall,
> yet they still seem to get through. The subject lines say things like
> "details", "hi", and things of that nature - I know well enough to not
> open these.
>
> What is troublesome is that there doesn't seem to be any product on the
> market which comes close to Outlooks abilities to send HTML messages?
>
> I have read up on this subject and learned that we need to acquire
> something called a digital signature? If we acquire this - then
> recipients of an email will know WHO they are getting their email FROM!
>
> What is confusing me is that the bulk of viruses seem to be on INCOMING
> emails! Is this true? If so, then a firewall seems to be a very
> practical thing to do yet it doesn't seem to prevent all viruses from
> getting past the network.
>
> Is there someone who can comment on whether it is OK to use Outlook as a
> means to send email messages? What are the proper precautions to be taken?
>
> I am sorry, but I like to be knowledgable and I like to sound like I
> know what I am talking about rather than split hairs over things that
> MIGHT happen.
>
> Margaret.
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