cautious
March 6th, 2005, 06:08 PM
My question is of the what-if nature. The email system where I am employed has been infected several times over the last few years with a virus that sends false email messages from one employee to another.
I have been assured that such a message can always be detected as a virus, and as such the exact sending origin can be traced.
The two basic questions that I have are: 1.) is this 100% true? 2.) could a virus be constructed to send an offensive message as though directly from a given employee's location to another or worse yet, a client outside of the LAN?
renegade600
March 6th, 2005, 10:20 PM
As long as the antivirus is scanning outgoing email and updated properly, emails sent with viruses will be caught.
However, if the email is sent with a hyperlink to a virus that is located outside of the company then there would be problems if the person receiving it clicks on the link. Hopefully they will have their antivirus working properly.
Ned Seagoon
March 7th, 2005, 06:33 AM
Hi cautious
There is a problem with the approach 'the anti virus will catch them'. New viruses are being written every day, there must of necessity be a delay between the release of a virus and the development and distrobution of an antivirus image.
There are two important things that have been overlooked in the previous response:
1) Education of users
2) Security patches
Users must be constantly educated about taking foolish risks when connected to a network.
All software running on a computer needs to be constantly updated with the latest security patch, to reduce the risk of attack.
Regardles of this, attacks will still occur, and some will succeed, and their effect can be enormous.
Anything can happen on a network, much can be traced by logs, some can only be traced with much difficulty. However be aware that if you are thinking of sending the bosses secretary a lurid e-mail and trying to blame it on someone else, they will not only be checking the computers, but the guys with the shifty eyes. :D
But in answer to your question.
1) No
2) Yes
BF