fred avolio's musings

I was getting buried in e-mail. With every download came new e-mail carrying the “Swen” worm (aka “Gibe” and “Worm.Automat”). Some variants contained HTML to look like a Microsoft web page. Each one carried a PC-executable program. At its peak, my email server was hit with about 200 messages a day. (I had over 300 when I checked my e-mail after being without power fo4 18 hours courtesy of tropical storm Isabel.)

I stopped it by disallowing executable attachments at my e-mail gateway. In other words we changed our security policy. It brought the deluge to a steady trickle. I continued to get e-mail to my address at my ISP: avolio1@earthlink.net. I only used that on Earthlink newsgroups, but once is enough. (I fearlessly post the address here as it is no longer valid.)

A policy that rejects e-mail carrying .exe (and other executables) may seem drastic, but it was just the ticket for me. You night consider it. There are other ways to transfer executable files. And if you reject such e-mail, you greatly reduce your risk.