antivirus in smtp, good or bad?

Tue Feb 3 19:14:11 UTC 2004

> I think we have all agreed in previous threads that if a mail anti virus 
> scanner does not know how to differentiate between a virus that spoofs 
> the sender and one that doesnt, it should silently discard all virus 
> infected email -- OR notify the local administrator/user at their 
> choosing, but NOT bounce it.

Since the notion not to bounce a "you mailed a virus" message back the 
sender is heard everywhere, I thought I'd mention this.... Our mail server 
generates an incredible amount of bounces because of user accounts either 
not existing or being over quota. The signature based virus scanner hooks 
in at the local delivery, so the mail spool isn't scanned for viruses. As 
a result many messages are returned intakt, including attached virus, to 
the fake 'From:' address.....

The fun and games of an archaic, abused, defunct mail delivery system...

Adi