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Rule to Filter Attachments for Viruses

Novell Cool Solutions: Tip
By Jeff Bowen

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Posted: 29 Jan 2003 		 

Problem: E-mail viruses/trojans were hitting us hard, especially NIMDA. We needed a quick way to sift through the possible hazardous attachments before users had the chance to open them.

Solution: Created rules in the GroupWise clients that searched for attachment extensions. Those extensions that were in the rule were automatically deleted/declined and emptied without the users even knowing.

Instructions:

  1. Under the Tools menu, choose Rules, click New. Pick a suitable name.


  2. Under When event is choose New Item and items are: Received.

  3. Under Item types, check all the boxes except for Phone messages.

  4. Click the Define Conditions... button.
    In the first drop down box, choose All Fields. Choose Attachments and click OK.
    • In the text box provided, type in your first attachment extension. For example "*.exe".
    • Next change the End button to Or and repeat the previous steps until all attachment types are entered. (I used *.exe, *.bat, *.scr, *.com, *.pif, and *.vbs, but I'm sure there are more you could block.)
    • When finished adding your extensions, click OK.

  5. Under Then actions are, click Add Action and choose Reply.
    This will allow you to send a reply message when an invalid attachment is found.
    • Simply choose Reply to Sender and type in your message.
    • Next, click Add Action again and choose Delete/Decline.
    • Next, click Add Action again and choose Empty Item.

  6. Finally click Save when finished. This should send your rule into action.

Jeff Bowen

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