Clean Viruses work / don't work if compressed

Martin Sapsed m.sapsed at BANGOR.AC.UK
Mon Feb 18 10:06:00 GMT 2002


Rishi Gangoly wrote:
> I noticed that if a word document is infected with a Macro Virus and is
> attached in an email, it gets cleaned and sent to the recepient.
>
> However, if it is compressed, it does not. It just puts it in the quarintine
> folder.
>
> Is there a way to clean a file even if it is compressed?
>
> Is this a something the AntiVirus software has to be capable of, OR
> mailscanner?

I would guess it's a limitation in the AV software. The product we use on
desktops (Vet) behaves the same. It will detect in zip files but won't
clean. I presume it would have to unpack the file from the archive, clean
the file and then update the archive with the new version and be able to do
that for archive formats 0..n - probably not worth the effort required?

Cheers,

Martin

--
Martin Sapsed                           To have no errors
Information Services                    Would be life without meaning
University of Wales, Bangor, LL57 2UX   No struggle, no joy.
Fax: +44 (0)1248 383826



More information about the MailScanner mailing list