If you are running your mail server only for yourself feel free to ban
.exe's and .zip's. If you are providing mail services to others I STRONGLY
suggest you consult an attorney that specializes in Internet related
matters. There have been a couple of recent cases where ISP's have been
held responsible for non-delivery of messages.
I asked two for an opinion on the matter and was told that we should not
block or hold any messages unless we believe them to be a specific threat to
our systems. After the smoke cleared we came to the conclusion that it's OK
to block known viruses and threats, but they had to be "known". We no
longer hold or delete any known SPAM. We let the users or domain admins
determine via rules what they want to block.
I also checked with our errors and omissions insurance provider and was told
that we would not be covered for non-delivery issues if it was a "deliberate
act" on our part to block them.
This has become a hot issue that few want to discuss. It's nearly
impossible to find an attorney well versed in the field. As more become
aware of the issue I suspect it will become a popular point to litigate (has
your ISP caused you damage by failing to deliver important information?,
etc.).
The bottom line is that if you block items like all .exe's or all .zip's you
are taking the responsibility for non-delivery. In the two cases I found
one had a disclaimer, and the other a written TOS. It didn't help either in
court.
Just be very careful.
-Joe
- Original Message -
From: "John T (Lists)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To:
Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2005 2:01 AM
Subject: RE: [sniffer] New virus...
No need to block zips, with Declude just add "BANZIPEXTS ON" to your
virus.cfg file since the payload is an exe within the zip and since we are
all already banning executable files, correct?
John T
eServices For You
-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
On
Behalf Of Pete McNeil
Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2005 8:41 PM
To: sniffer@sortmonster.com
Subject: [sniffer] New virus...
Importance: High
Hello sniffer,
Hello folks... watch out for a new virus email with an attachment
named "pword _ change . zip" - extra spaces added to skip filters
;-)
We're adding some SNF rules to catch it. No word about it on virus
lists or scanner services yet (that I can see).
You may want to temporarily block .zip files - or at least this
particular zip file until the new rules can be pushed out and the
virus scanners catch up.
Thanks,
_M
Pete McNeil (Madscientist)
President, MicroNeil Research Corporation
Chief SortMonster (www.sortmonster.com)
Chief Scientist (www.armresearch.com)
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