Re: Hotmail security vulnerability (viruses)

[nick () VIRUS-L DEMON CO UK (Nick FitzGerald)]

Xander Teunissen to Dan Schrader:

> > While we are discussing Hotmail, has anyone noticed that Hotmail's
> > virus scanner doesn't detect most macro viruses - including any of
> > the Melissa varients?
>
> This article (published on Techweb last friday) notes that problem yes.
> It's not much of a solution (none at all, come to think of it) but it shows
> yet another of the problems this service is dealing with and exposing it's
> users to.
>
> http://techweb.com/wire/story/TWB19991015S0016

A response I posted to Dan Schrader's original comment (above) a few
days back did not make the cut for posting to the list.  It made the
same point as that news story -- that Hotmail is using an "old"
version of its chosen antivirus software that is known to have
difficulties with common, "new" macro viruses ("new" that is, if
you count almost all new viruses in more than the last twelve
moonths as "new").

The article is also interesting because of this claim:

   Anti-virus experts at Star Internet said they urged Hotmail to fix the
   problem after Hotmail became the biggest source of macro viruses
   in their business customers' networks.

Now, what does this really say?  It seems that Start Internet (and
its customers?) holds Hotmail responsible for the *content* of the
Email Hotmail's customers send.  It also suggests that Star
Internet's own Email scanning technology is far from adequate if
Hotmail really was "the biggest source of macro viruses in their
[Star's] business customers' networks".

Oh yes, a final note -- to see how much Star Internet is really
interested in its customers security, visit their web site
(http://www.star.co.uk/) with IE and watch for the ActiveX
warning...

Regards,

Nick FitzGerald