[plug] security of linux desktops re mail viri

[craig at postnewspapers.com.au]

> Surely one can filter, on a user per user basis, incomming email and 
> consign certain attatchments to oblivion whilst allowing the message 
> through? A filter killing, amoung other things, .sh .jpg
I already ditch .vbs .scr .sh .com .bat .dll .386 .exe and .sh
Our mailserver is braindead and has very limited content filter support,
so I can't write proper regexp rules. Its like using wildcards in
DOS (*ick ick ick*).

> Sort of a simple firewall script/filter for the mail system. I'm no 
> hacker but it seems simple enough for someone who knows what they are 
> doing.
Except that that somebody is stuck with an ugly mailserver running on
windows NT with no chance of replacing it until the virus scanner
licence expires in 1 1/2 years.
 
> There would be a lot of flack from users not getting their birthday 
> cards, but this may be able to be offset by arguing 
> productivity/monetary gains from less down time.
Stuff the users, in that sense. I do not care if they don't get .exe
birthday cards that pop up and play a little tune. I've explained why
these aren't allowed through, they undersand the risk of using them, and
nobody really minds.

One of the few things they _do_ understand.

-- 
Craig Ringer
IT Manager
POST Newspapers
http://www.postnewspapers.com.au/
http://oberthur.dyndns.org/~craig/
GPG Key Fingerprint: AF1C ABFE 7E64 E9C8 FC27  C16E D3CE CDC0 0E93 380D