If
you need files to test your anti-virus scheme, try this url: http://www.eicar.org/anti_virus_test_file.htm
Question:
The O-L calender has the import feature nowadays. Do you
have any plans to add the export feature (to Outlook for
example)?
Answer:
No. Especially to Outlook. Outlook tops the list of the
"most dangerous software" packages available today.
Anyone that uses Outlook for mail is only a "preview of a
message" away from infecting not only their system but any
other system that they are connected to on the network. We feel
it would be irresponsible for us to do anything that encourages
someone to switch from a relatively secure package like
Office-Logic to something that is in the media almost daily as a
security risk. Office-Logic version 8 has more features than
Outlook and is without question, more secure. We think it is the
responsible thing to do. One of the reasons we have upgraded
Office-Logic InterChange to support Exchange is an attempt to
help protect those sites that, for whatever reason, whether
political or ignorance, are still trying to support Outlook
and/or Exchange Server.
VIRUS
ALERT!!!
To
prevent your friends and neighbors from infecting your network
with the nasty virus files (perhaps unintentionally with Outlook)
Office-Logic
Groupware version 8.x Administrators should IMMEDIATELY add
the following lines to their OL.INI file, replacing the
existing lines:
;List
of attachment extensions that are considered executable
; user will be warned before executing
ExecuteExtensions=exe ade adp bas bat chm cmd com cpl crt eml
hlp hta inf ins isp js jse lnk mdb mde msc msi msp mst ole pcd
pif reg scr sct shb shs url vb vbe vbs wsc wsf wsh wmd wmz
;Allow executable attachments to be executed
; enabled if 1 or 3; disabled if 0 or 2; overridable if 2 or 3
ExecuteAttachments=2
Above
Revised 11/1/2001
Added
"msi","ole","pcd","shb","url","wsc","wsf",
and "wmz" to the list of "bad"
attachment extensions due the terrible way that Outlook
handles virus and worm code attached to mail messages..
Above
Revised 10/1/2001
Added
"eml" to the list of "bad" attachment
extensions due the terrible way that Outlook handles
virus and worm code attached to mail messages..
NOTE:
The above entries have 2 lines that begin with semicolons (;)
that are comments. The third line is the one that sets the
configuration and has the list of attachment extensions that may
be executable files.
By
setting the "ExecuteAttachments=2", Office-Logic will
prevent your users from executing any file attachments that have
extensions listed. This will prevent your computers from being
infected and since Office-Logic doesn't use the Windows Address
Book, you won't send the virus to anyone else... unless of
course you have that unsafe Outlook client configured and have
people in your address book. If you need help making your mail
system safe, please contact us.
OUTLOOK
and OUTLOOK Express can still cause you GRIEF!
Office-Logic
will not propagate the "Melissa" type virus itself,
your users can execute the file and Outlook installed on the
system will still send out to the OUTLOOK ADDRESS BOOK. This
means that if you are going to leave Outlook installed (and we
can't think of a reason why!), at least clear the address book
so that the user doesn't resend the virus. If you need help in
configuring Office-Logic so you can eliminate any need for
Outlook, please contact us.
Foot-And-Mouth
Believed To Be First Virus Unable To Spread Through Microsoft
Outlook
Atlanta,
Ga. (SatireWire.com) Scientists at the Centers for Disease
Control and Symantec's AntiVirus Research Center today confirmed
that "foot-and-mouth" disease cannot be spread by
Microsoft's Outlook email application, believed to be the first
time the program has ever failed to propagate a major virus.
"Frankly,
we've never heard of a virus that couldn't spread through
Microsoft Outlook, so our findings were, to say the least,
unexpected," said Clive Sarnow, director of the CDC's
infectious disease unit.
The
study was immediately hailed by British officials, who said it
will save millions of pounds and thousands of man hours.
"Up until now we have, quite naturally, assumed that both
foot-and-mouth and mad cow were spread by Microsoft
Outlook," said Nick Brown, Britain's Agriculture Minister.
"By eliminating it, we can focus our resources
elsewhere."
However,
researchers in the Netherlands, where foot-and-mouth has
recently appeared, said they are not yet prepared to disqualify
Outlook, which has been the progenitor of viruses such as
"I Love You," "Bubbleboy," "Anna
Kournikova," and "Naked Wife," to name but a few.
Said
Nils Overmars, director of the Molecular Virology Lab at Leiden
University: "It's not that we don't trust the research,
it's just that as scientists, we are trained to be skeptical of
any finding that flies in the face of established truth. And
this one flies in the face like a blind drunk sparrow."
Executives
at Microsoft, meanwhile, were equally skeptical, insisting that
Outlook's patented Virus Transfer Protocol (VTP) has proven
virtually pervious to any virus. The company, however, will
issue a free VTP patch if it turns out the application is not
vulnerable to foot-and-mouth.
Such
an admission would be embarrassing for the software giant, but
Symantec virologist Ariel Kologne insisted that no one is more
humiliated by the study than she is. "Only last week, I had
a reporter ask if the foot-and-mouth virus spreads through
Microsoft Outlook, and I told him, 'Doesn't everything?'"
she recalled. "Who would've thought?"
Copyright2001,
SatireWire
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