Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!netnews.upenn.edu!vax1.cc.lehigh.edu!sei.cmu.edu!krvw From: WHMurray@DOCKMASTER.ARPA Newsgroups: comp.virus Subject: Protecting Users form Letter Bombs Message-ID: <0010.8912111157.AA07688@ge.sei.cmu.edu> Date: 10 Dec 89 15:17:00 GMT Sender: Virus Discussion List Lines: 12 Approved: krvw@sei.cmu.edu >On this subject: how far should system administrators go to protect >users from this type of "letter bomb". It seems a bit heavy-handed to >purge ANY file from the queue with a filetype of EXEC, XEDIT, or MODULE. >Is it best to let the users fend for themselves, or overprotect them? A reasonable compromise is to protect them from surprise by arbitrarily renaming and re-typing the object so that they will not execute it by accident. William Hugh Murray, Fellow, Information System Security, Ernst & Young 2000 National City Center Cleveland, Ohio 44114 21 Locust Avenue, Suite 2D, New Canaan, Connecticut 06840