full-disclosure - [inbox] Re: Re: E-Mail viruses

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Message-ID: <300D99D8A31F6041BAA0F17D7347FD76020BBE11@sfs-systems3.sfs.upenn.edu>
From: hunter at sfs.upenn.edu (Hunter, Laura E.)
Subject: [inbox] Re: Re: E-Mail viruses 

To paraphrase Werner von Braun, always use the word 'never' with the utmost
caution.  :-)

-----Original Message-----
From: Curt Purdy [mailto:purdy@...man.com] 
Sent: Friday, March 05, 2004 3:20 PM
To: Valdis.Kletnieks@...edu
Cc: 'Full Disclosure'
Subject: RE: [inbox] Re: [Full-Disclosure] Re: E-Mail viruses 

Valdis.Kletnieks wrote:

> > Ah, I wish...  An alternative is to allow only a
> proprietary extension
> > through, like .inc  Legitimate senders would rename the
> file, be it .exe
> > .doc .jpg, indicate in the body of the message what the
> true extension is,
> > and the receiver merely renames it.

> So let's see.. the same bozos who read the text part of the virus, get 
> the password, and use that to unzip the rest of the virus won't read 
> the text part, get the rename to do,
> and.....
>
> Color me dubious....

Methinks you misunderstand.  Only the proprietary extension, i.e. .inc or
.xyz or .whatever, would be allowed through, and since virus writers would
never use this extension, it would eliminate ALL viruses at the gateway. The
nice thing about this approach is that it completely eliminates the need for
any anti-virus on the mail server since all virus attachments are
automatically dropped without the need for scanning.  Quite a simple, yet
elegant solution, if I do say so myself.

Curt Purdy CISSP, GSEC, MCSE+I, CNE, CCDA
Information Security Engineer
DP Solutions

----------------------------------------

If you spend more on coffee than on IT security, you will be hacked. What's
more, you deserve to be hacked.
-- White House cybersecurity adviser Richard Clarke

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