Food for thought

[Marco Obaid]

I agree to some extent that the key to defeating virus-writers lies within the
hands of our users. However, some of the techniques used can trick even the
most technical savvy of us. For example, my boss got his computer infected
with a spayware from one site that he visited. The site displayed an Ad that
looked just like a windows message (I had to really stare at it for a while).

Users do not breathe and eat this stuff like we do. If they knew what we know,
they would certinly be a bit more cautious. We all make mistakes, but it seems
that computer mistakes nowadays are very costly.

Therefore, I do *not* trust users and I want to have defenses in place because
users will make mistakes and will open an attachment that they shouldn't.

Kevin Spicer pointed out great points on some predictions of future viruses. I
think it is wise to consider such scenarios and prepare for them rather than
upgrade MailScanner, go about our business, and wait till another crisis
occur. I am considering Kevin's approach to Web filtering. Spyware *is*
emerging to be one of the major threats.

Who knows, maybe one day MailScanner will evolve to become a filter for not
only SMTP traffic but also for HTTP traffic.

Marco