PC Training & Consulting Weblog

Test Your Email Security Safely

August 15, 2004

Email Anti Virus and Security Testing Zone

Test the security of your email system!

Is your email system secure against email viruses and attacks?
The most deadly viruses, able to cripple your email system and corporate network in minutes, are being distributed worldwide via email in a matter of hours (for example, the LoveLetter virus). Email worms and viruses can reach your system and infect your users through harmful attachments. But that's not all! Some viruses are transmitted through harmless-looking email messages and can run automatically without the need for user intervention (like the Nimda virus). Are you covered against such threats?

Find out now by doing a vulnerability check on your email system!

Use the link above to browse a service that will test your email security. I selected all 17 tests which resulted in 23 email messages. Norton Internet Security popped up on one of the 23. Mozilla Thunderbird (my email software) said I got 17 messages, but automatically deleted 6 of them as spam. Of the attachments that got through, I was able to open most in notepad but could not easily run any of them (that's good). I was then able to save 8 of 9 attachments, but as I tried to run them Norton blocked each or it would not run at all. One test did get through, highlighting a specific vulnerability.

Conclusion: I might have prefered it if Norton had just quarantined all these attachments. However, it appears that that only one of these 'exploits' would be successful on my machine. Add to this the fact that I would never download and run any such attachments except that I had to to test this. mjh