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Guidelines for the Healthy Use of E-mail
- By Scott Bekker
- August 16, 1999
NTBugtraq recently included suggestions for running a healthy, virus-free e-mail program. When receiving an e-mail message containing an attachment that was not expected or from an unknown sender, do the following:
- Do not touch the attachment. Don't open it, don't view it, don't save it to disk.
- Contact the sender to verify they actually sent the attachment.
- If still unsure about it, contact a network administrator. Do not send them a copy of the attachment unless they request one.
- If all else fails, send a message to [email protected] describing the message. Copies of the attachment can be sent to this address. After investigating the message, SecurityAdivce.com will reply with whatever information is available.
When sending someone an e-mail message with an attachment, do the following:
Before sending the message with the attachment, send the recipient a message telling them to expect an attachment.
- Avoid sending messages with attachments that contain executable code, such as Word documents with macros. Instead of sending them a DOC file, send them a RTF version.
- Run an anti-virus product, but don't rely on it completely.
- Scan any file before attaching it to an e-mail.
--Thomas Sullivan
Source: SecurityAdvice.com
About the Author
Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.