RE: Antivirus for AS400 mail server?

["Bob Crothers" <Bob2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

No offense intended, but filtering like this is sort of like birth
control using the "Rhythm Method".  You get frustrating down time, and
you still get babies.

If you are going to get server side virus scanning (and you should),
then get server side virus scanning.

Domino on the AS/400 has something available that actually runs on the
AS/400.

Or, you can front end your inbound SMTP with something like Norton's
Internet Gateway running on another platform such as WinNT.

Regards,
Bob Crothers
Cornerstone Communications
http://www.cstoneindy.com




-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-admin@midrange.com
[mailto:midrange-l-admin@midrange.com]On Behalf Of Shannon O'Donnell
Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2001 5:05 PM
To: midrange-l@midrange.com
Subject: Re: Antivirus for AS400 mail server?

Well...they could write their own virus checking software from the
groun up
if they want, but a quicker, albeit less complex and therefore...less
comprehensive, method would be to use the SMTP Filter available with
V5R1
(and as a PTF with V4R5).

This filter, configured via a properties panel on the SMTP server in
Operations Navigator, will allow you to automatically scan for known
virus
phrases such as "I LOVE YOU", or any other text you define, in the
message
header. You can also filter out specific attachment types such as
*.exe,
*.vb and so on.  You can check to see if mail is coming from a specific
email address(es). You can scan the message content for known bugs,
phrases
or messages.

If the filter finds any of these items that you've defined, you can
either:
Ignore it,  Isolate it (until you can look at it), or Delete it
outright.

If it were me, I'd try the filter first to see if it handled all of
your
needs. If not, you could always go back and write an actual virus
checker.
Although updating it with all the new viruses, somthing Symantec
requires an
army of technicians to accomplish, would not be a trivial task.



<snip>