Groupware-Email Hosting Services
Anti-Virus and Anti-Spam Policy Information
REVISION: 1.2
DATE:
1/26/2005
ANTI-VIRUS/ANTI-SPAM POLICY PURPOSE
Mississippi
Bend Area Education Agency employs a layered system of anti-virus and anti-spam
measures for all district and schools that utilize the Groupware-Email Hosting
Services. This helps ensure that
valuable network and computer learning resources are available to the students
and staff of the subscribing districts and schools. These resources are critical to the
enrichment of the educational environment.
To leave them unprotected would be irresponsible and a failure of AEA9's
mission to improve teaching and learning for all students.
ANTI-VIRUS/ANTI-SPAM POLICY ENFORCEMENT
The
anti-virus and anti-spam measures provide protection by scanning incoming email
messages for viruses and worms, potentially harmful attachments, dangerous or
malicious encoding, and checks if the sender's Internet address, or IP address,
is a known source of spam or viruses. If
the email message contains one or more of these dangers, it is deleted and the
message is returned to the sender. The
returned, or bounced, message will usually contain more detailed information
about why the message was not delivered.
RESOVLING PROBLEMS
The
most common causes that someone would have a email bounced are that their
computer is infected with a virus or that the IP address that their ISP
assigned them is listed as a known source for spam or other threats.
Step
1: Make sure the sender's computer is
updated and virus-free.
In
either case, the first step in trouble-shooting the problems is to make sure
that the sender's computer is virus-free and secured against viral threats. It is the sender's responsibility to ensure
that their computer is not infected with or spreading a virus and properly
updated to prevent a viral infection.
1) Make sure
that anti-virus software is installed, functioning properly, and up-to-date with the latest virus definitions
from the software maker. There are a
number of free and/or inexpensive anti-virus software packages available for
home users. (See "REFERENCE
LINKS" for more information.)
2) Perform a
complete anti-virus scan of the computer.
This procedure varies widely by anti-virus maker. Check the documentation and/or help
information on how to run a complete or holistic scan.
3) Depending on
what the results were of the complete scan, it may be necessary to clean or
remove the infection. This procedure,
like the scanning process, varies widely depending on the anti-virus software
that is used. Consult the
documentation, help information, and the software makers website for the
specifics. Most anti-virus software
companies provide a number of free and easy to use tools to remove an
infection.
4) Update the
operating system, web-browser, and email client to the latest versions or security patches. The most common operating system, Microsoft
Windows, is easily updated via the Windows Update website. (See "REFERENCE LINKS" for more
information.)
Step
2: Contact the sender's ISP for help.
Since
an infection of the sender's computer by a virus or worm was largely ruled out
in Step 1, it is possible that the IP address that the ISP assigned them is
listed in an RBL (Real-Time Block List) as a source of virus infection or spam.
1) Most service
providers, including MBAEA, use RBLs to help catch the most common senders of
spam and viruses. Neither the intended
recipient nor MBAEA can help in removing an IP address from an RBLs listings,
it is the responsibility of the ISP to ensure that the IP addresses they
provide to their customers remain unlisted in the various RBLs.
2) When
contacting the ISP make sure to forward or include the information and contents
of the bounced message. This will help
the ISP identify the potential problem.
Step
3: Contact the recipient's Technical
Coordinator.
Most
of the time, the problem is resolved either by cleaning up any virus infections
or by the sender's ISP working with the individual RBLs to remove the listed IP
addresses. When the problem goes unresolved, the next step is to contact
the Technical Coordinator for the district or school. The Technical Coordinator can then work help
identify the problem, work with MBAEA and the sender's ISP, and coordinate any
further trouble-shooting.
1) As in Step
2, when contacting a Technical Coordinator, it is important to make sure to
provide the information and contents of the bounced message. Without this information it becomes very
difficult to determine the cause of the problem and no further trouble-shooting
can occur.
2) Incoming
email is also checked by content filters that also catch potentially dangerous
encoding or formatting. Always try to
re-send the message with the content changed by removing any graphical images,
colorful backgrounds, or extra formatting.
Doing this may help resolve the problem by preventing any
mis-identification as spam.
3) It may be
that either the sender's computer is still infected with a virus or that the
sender's ISP must resolve issues with the RBLs.
If this is the case, it then becomes the responsibility of the sender
and/or the ISP to first resolve any outstanding problems they might have before
any further trouble-shooting can take place by either the Technical Coordinator
or MBAEA.
REFERENCE LINKS
Anti-Virus
Software --
Grisoft (AVG Anti-Virus): http://www.grisoft.com/
Sophos (Sophos Anti-Virus): http://www.sophos.com/
McAfee (McAfee Anti-Virus): http://www.mcafee.com/
Symantec (Symantec Anti-Virus): http://www.symantec.com/
Frisk (F-Prot Antivirus): http://www.f-prot.com/
Microsoft
Windows Update --
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/
Microsoft
Security Home Page --
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.aspx
Spam
Filtering --
http://computersecurity.articleinsider.com/129620_email_content_filtering.html
http://computersecurity.articleinsider.com/129590_spam_filters.html
http://computersecurity.articleinsider.com/129591_anti_spam_software.html
http://computersecurity.articleinsider.com/129593_spam_blockers.html
TERMINOLOGY AND FURTHER INFORMAITON
"anti-spam"
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/a/anti_spam.html
"anti-virus"
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/A/antivirus_program.html
"ISP"
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/I/ISP.html
"spam"
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/spam.html
http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Internet/2002/GettingRidofSpam.asp
"RBL"
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/R/RBL.html
http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/cio/article.php/977611
TROUBLE-SHOOTING LINKS
Primary
RBL Subscriptions In Use --
MAPS
(Mail-Abuse Prevention Systems) Main Website
http://www.mail-abuse.com
MAPS
(Mail-Abuse Prevention Systems) Lookup Tool
http://www.mail-abuse.com/lookup.html
NJABL
(Not Just Another Bogus List) Main Website
http://www.njabl.org
NJABL
(Not Just Another Bogus List) Lookup Tool
http://www.njabl.org/lookup.html
Spamhaus
(The Spamhaus Project) Main Website
http://www.spamhaus.org
Spamhaus
(The Spamhaus Project) Lookup Tool
http://www.spamhaus.org/lookup.lasso
SpamCop
(SpamCop) Main Website
http://www.spamcop.net
SpamCop
(SpamCop) Lookup Tool
http://www.spamcop.net/bl.shtml
General
RBL Lookup Tools --
DNS
Stuff
http://www.dnsstuff.com
Open
RBL
http://openrbl.org
Ted's
Webtools
http://www.mob.net/~ted/tools/rbl.php3
SamSpade
http://www.samspade.org