I am finalising our Anti Virus guidelines at the surgery. I would be interested in the list's comments.
Does the list regard .doc format as safe these days. This is
particularly relevant since it is still the most common format we
receive from outside sources.
David
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Attachments
Most viruses come as attachments to emails. Opening these infected
attachments launches the program. It is usually very difficult and
costly to removed the infection once it has been run once, since it
copies itself into a number of obscure places within the computer. We
therefore suggest following these simple rules.
Sending
1. Plain text attachments should be inlined instead of attached. In
Thunderbird this is set through the View | Display Attachments
Inline
<http://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:Help_Documentation:Menu_Reference#Display_Attachments_Inline>
option.
2. JPG / PNG /GIF formatted images are acceptable.
3. Emails should be plain text, not HTML. Plain text is much more
efficient in terms of data storage and transmission. In
Thunderbird individual words and phrases can be marked as
underlined, italicised, or bold by enclosing them in _ / *
respectively.
4. HTML attachments are acceptable in exceptions where formatting is
essential. The attachment must not contain JAVA/ JAVA script code.
5. Binary attachments (eg .exe files) should never be sent.
6. In the rare cases where binary files must be sent, we recommend
transmission in zipped format and that an email should precede
that with the attachment. The preceding email should contain
information about the executable along with a MD5 hash sum of it.
(Front office staff will never have to do this.)
7. Potential worm bearing data formats such as Microsoft word ( .doc)
or Visual Basic code 9 (.vbs) are forbidden. Formatted text
exchange should be in RTF or PDF format if formatting other than
HTML is considered essential.
Receiving
1. Rule number one:- *NEVER CLICK ON ATTACHMENTS*
2. Faxes are distributed internally through the email system. These
have a .tif or a .tiff extension. It is save to click on these
from an internal user.
3. Never click on files with a .exe, .vbs or .pif extension.
4. Never open attachments where there is no identifying information
in the email. (E.g.: "Hello Bob, can you look at this file for me"
is not specific. "Hello Bob. after our discussions at the Network
last Wednesday, I have sent you a copy of the document" is
acceptable if, in fact, you saw Bob at the Network last Wednesday.)
5. Word documents can have viruses in them. Ask for them to be resent
in PDF format.
6. Many viruses target the address book in the Microsoft programs.
Using other programs and operating systems greatly minimises this
risk. (This and the next rule do not apply at the Goonellabah
Medical Centre since we use Thunderbird.)
7. Switch off automatic opening of attachments in your
preferences/options of your mail program.
8. Jokes sent on mailing lists are always a risk. Jokes may not only
contain viruses but are often not appreciated by the recipient. We
suggest you forward jokes to your home address.
9. If you really must look at attachments of an unknown type or
origin they should be forwarded to the security coordinator for
approval first.
smime.p7s
Description: S/MIME Cryptographic Signature
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