Zero-length attachments

[Antony Stone]

Hi.

I have a suggestion for another MailScanner feature :)

Attachments of zero size cannot possibly be dangerous, and yet they can give
rise to messages such as "Executable files are dangerous in emails".

Quite a number of recent viruses which attempt to spread by copying .exe .pif
.scr or similar files around have occasionally gone wrong and distributed
zero size files instead of the virus.

I think it would be useful to have a MailScanner option along the lines of
"Ignore Zero-size Attachments" so that they never give rise to filename
alerts (because even if the user opens the attachment and it "executes",
there's nothing there to execute, therefore there's nothing worth warning
them about).

If the option is left at "No" or is not present then the current behaviour is
maintained.

If the option is set at "Yes" then Zero-size attachments bypass the filename,
filetype and virus checks (the latter two for efficiency, because there's
nothing to bother checking).

Thoughts?

Antony.

--

In science, one tries to tell people
in such a way as to be understood by everyone
something that no-one ever knew before.

In poetry, it is the exact opposite.

 - Paul Dirac