Network and Systems Services, Computing and Information Services, Texas A&M University
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NETWORKS

SYSTEMS

CIS

TAMU
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Virus Blocking

Virus Blocking

Viruses are deemed a security threat since so many desktops are vulnerable to them. Fortunately, there are scanners that can consistantly identify viruses based on infected computers. Using one of these scanners, email entering the Texas A&M network will be scanned for viruses and rejected without being accepted or delivered locally.

All virus scanning companies will need time to construct a proper signature for a newly discovered virus though they all do respond fairly rapidly after a new threat is identified. Unfortunately, no scanning process is perfect and slight variances can cause the occasional message to slip by. Combined with the possibility of viruses reaching an end mail host or desktop without passing through the filter means that there is still a need to have virus scanning software on your desktop if you run a vulnerable operating system.

To make sure that the virus definitions on the SMTP relay machines are as up-to-date as possible, an automated process fetches a new list 3 times daily.

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