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Q: How does Virus Protection work?
A: All email messages that have file attachments must pass several tests before they are forwarded to a customer's corporate network. These levels include:
1. Filename and Filetype Blocking — Specific filenames can be blocked automatically from the network. You can request Sprint to add and remove filenames to be blocked for your domains.
2. Policy Enforcement — Content types may be added and removed to enforce your content policy By default, Sprint blocks all files with the Visual Basic (vbs) and executable (exe) content types.
3. Sophos & Trend-Micro Anti-virus software — Sophos and Trend-Micro virus engines are also used to block viruses from entering the network.
If a virus is detected that cannot be cleaned, the email is bounced back to the sender with a message indicating the email contains a virus. The infected attachment is not included in the returned message to avoid re-infecting the sender's system.
If a virus is detected and can be cleaned, the virus is removed from the attachment and the email is sent to the intended recipient. Text is added to the message indicating the email contained a virus that was removed. The sender of the infected message is also notified that they sent an infected email.
Q: How often does the Sprint Anti-Virus software get updated?
A: The Sprint network looks for library updates from our partners every 10 minutes. As a development partner with our three anti-virus providers — Sophos, Symantec and Trend Micro — Sprint receives alerts of new viruses as soon as they are discovered. As alerts are received, immediate action is taken to block any suspicious email until the anti-virus engines have been updated to detect the new virus.
Q: Is my network protected with my current anti-virus software?
A: There are varying levels of protection provided by anti-virus software. The level of protection depends on a number of factors, including:
1. Desktop Anti-Virus Software — Desktop anti-virus software can protect systems; however, the software may experience significant update delays. As recent outbreaks have been email-based and penetrate the network very quickly, organizations can not update the software quick enough and are left highly vulnerable to virus infection.
Sprint provides the perfect enhancement to desktop anti-virus protection because with Sprint Email Protection Services virus definitions are frequently and quickly updated and email-borne viruses are stopped before they enter your network.
2. Email Server Ant-Virus Solutions — If you are using email server anti-virus solutions in combination with desktop anti-virus software, your system has better protection than with only desktop software. However, please note the following advantages of using Sprint Anti-Virus protection:
Q: How does Sprint handle viruses in ZIP and other archive files?
A: Like most gateway-based anti-virus solutions, Sprint recursively unpacks every archive to scan its contents.
Q: What are TNEF files and why can they be a problem?
A: TNEF is a Microsoft encoding method used by Microsoft Exchange in transmitting messages between Exchange servers. TNEF is also used in Microsoft Outlook when messages are sent in RTF format. Some anti-virus engines have difficulty scanning TNEF encoded files. When an engine has trouble scanning these files, it may forward the incompletely scanned file, which carries the risk of virus infection. Sprint can decode TNEF files before passing them through the anti-virus engines, ensuring proper scanning and virus identification.
TNEF encoding is quite common since Microsoft Outlook is among the most used email clients, creating a significant security risk if your anti-virus solution does not process TNEF files.
