Hi
10 Jul 2001, "Samuel W. Heywood" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
SH> Another question: How can your anti-virus software determine if
SH> an email message contains a virus *before* the attachment has
SH> been decoded?
Don't focus only on the client side !!!
At least for linux there are scanners which scan the mail *BEFORE*
final delivery !
So virus infected mail doesn't even reach you !
SH> I have heard that windozers can get infected simply by opening the
SH> email message and reading it, but I don't believe it.
do believe ir
SH> The basic message part is only ascii text.
have you heared of HTML ?? <bg>
SH> According to my understanding, you cannot run a virus simply by
SH> reading an ascii text file,
this is correct
but your assumptions are not correct.
If outlook gets a mail which contains text and html, guess what outlook
displays.
if you answered text than you are terribly wrong !
and this html file can include images, active-x applets, VBScript scripts
...
Together with the myriades of security holes in outlook this is a VERY
deadly situation !
SH> but there are those who will say that my understanding is wrong.
if you say that you can't get infected by reading ASCII text, than you are
right.
It's the same with wordprocessors.
You can't get a virus by opening a document.
As long as the author of the wordprocessor is SO EXTREMELY STUPID, to
default to run ALL INCLUDED MACROS without asking !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(and to allow including macros itself)
SH> Sam Heywood
CU, Ricsi
--
|~)o _ _o Richard Menedetter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> {ICQ: 7659421} (PGP)
|~\|(__\| -=> Love is like PI-natural,irrational,and VERY important <=-
