Antivirus E-mail Scanning

There is an interesting thread over at dslreports security forum about how important e-mail scanners are in antivirus programs...............

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,10480694~mode=flat


Thought it would be interesting to see what people here think about e-mail scanning being a part of any antivirus program. I would like to hear thoughts on outgoing e-mail scanning also.

 

well in my opinion e-mail scanners are important as there are lots of people out there who are using POP3. but i hate the idea when AV manufacturers integrate it to their product. it should be provided as a plugin, an optional component, as there are lots of people who doesn't use e-mail clients. i don't use it and i don't like it when i see an e-mail scanner hogging my memory. sometimes AVs like eTrust EZ shows that you are not protected if you are not using the e-mail scanner.

if you want an e-mail scanner then its a good idea to have the outgoing mail scanner too. in that case you can spot a problem where that worm fooled you scanner and heuristics. for example if you are using McAfee, it'll alert you if your system has mailed lots of mails in short time span. also your contacts will be safe. not only you can spot a worm but also you can stop the worm. hey spot and stop are the same alphabets re-arranged, i just noticed it.

 

Depending on how your AV's email scanner works, it might not even work if you are sending/receiving your email via a secure POP3 session (SSL).

 

I use Outlook Express. My ISP, Comcast HSI, filters incoming mail using Brightmail. I tested it while trying to send the Eicar test to myself. Brightmail blocked it. But I think it's always good to have layered protection just in case something got through.

My feelings on outgoing mail scanners is that it also is added protection. You never know, something might try to slip out.


AMRX......I believe you use Panda Platinum. If you don't, I know you are very familiar with it. Does Panda's e-mail scanner work with POP3? I'm asking because of rerun2's post. I believe Trend Micro has POP3 scanning.

 

dear Mannaggia, yes i do have Panda in one of my systems. and yes Panda will scan your POP3 traffic. you are right about Trend. rerun2 is talking about POP3 over SSL or POP3s which uses port number 995. Panda mail scanner is a very good configurable scanner that can scan compressed attachments, supports bi-directional scanning, sniffs out double extension files, so on and so forth.

 

Thank you AMRX.