Gmail apparently using ClamAV

I'm not sure they would bother unless it was radically different from other av's already in the market. Not like google to reinvent the wheel.

Also doesn't it make sense to filter out exe files? One of the first things I'd do if I was running a mail service.

 

Like the Google implementation of POP3 and IMAP?

 

Don't know what the story is there. Do you have a link?

 

Hi huangker,

I am going out on a limb here and guessing that you do not use Gmail's POP or IMAP features.

With POP, the issue is minor, but it does not follow RFC standards, example the POP DELE command is ignored by Gmail. In the Gmail Help Center's Configuring other mail clients at the bottom "Your Gmail settings determine whether or not messages stay on the server, so this setting in your client won't affect how Gmail handles your mail."

With IMAP, the issue is more complex, but the behavior of Gmails IMAP is tailored to Gmail, it does not behave as standard IMAP servers do. See Deleting IMAP messages, How do actions sync in IMAP? and Recommended IMAP client settings

Once you figured it out it's not so bad but getting to that point is frustrating. I also believe that some of this may have been done to encourage storing all of your messages within Gmail. Something I prefer not to do. I use POP and have that set to Delete Gmail's Copy. Since IMAP does not delete, but moves it to All Mail, I only use Gmail's IMAP to check Spam for valid messages, which happens quite frequently.

 

Sounds reasonable.

 

Does the "google pack" have any relation to this?

Google pack consists of Norton Security Scan and Spyware Doctor Starter Edition among others.

 

my guess is, that gmail scans with a multiple of cheap engines...

 

Confirmed that Gmail does use ClamAV. But I don't know if that is the only engine that it uses.

 

Confirmed?
Did you talk with Larry Page and Sergey Brin or Google CEO?

 

Googled, and also tried some samples.

 

Googled?
Could you give the result pages?

 

Don't remember the exact link.....but other people had tried and got the same result. Also my samples were recognized with the same name ClamAV recognizes them.

 

When Gmail first went looking for AV scanners to use, they approached a number of AV companies. When it became clear that (a) the companies were not allowed to advertise that they had been selected by gmail and (b) gmail was only willing to pay next to nothing, some AV companies lost interest in dealing with gmail.

Apparently some others found the terms acceptable.

 

I tried doing a test sending the WinRar software I downloaded and email it back to my self and this was the error I got:

wrar371.exe is an executable file. For security reasons, Gmail does not allow you to send this type of file.

 

Haha yea google being 'different' as usual. What is in it for the vendors though? Access to a massive honeypot?

When you encrypt, make sure you encrypt the file names too.

My point was though that google wouldn't bother doing something that has already been done. It wouldn't build AV from the ground up when everyone has already done it.

What you are referring to is google doing things 'their' way, which is a different issue.