On Fri, 08 Mar 2002, Rob McMillin wrote:
> Matt Sergeant wrote:
>
>>>If you use a secure mailer, than viruses are not a threat, nothing
>>>but more junk. I don't see any reason not to consider them spam.
>>
>>They are junk, but not UCE.
>>
>>How would you, for example, propose to catch a polymorphic executable
>>virus? Our code catches these using a disassembler and examining the
>>code to see if it tries to do something malicious. This is not the
>>realm of SpamAssassin.
>
> Right, but it's still spam.
No, it's still junk.
> I read mail on a Linux box that is utterly immune to Outlook
> mail-based viruses, but this is spam as far as I'm concerned.
Junk, as has been said. :)
> There will never be a reason for me to have an antivirus scanner on my
> computer. I don't see why SA couldn't do this for simple cases.
Because catching a single regular virus with a regular expression test
*after* the virus is popular enough to be a problem is going to take
more resources than catching *most* viruses before they are a problem
with MIMEdefang or a similar tool designed for the job.
If you can define "junk" to include "any executable attachment" in your
email system, that's *wonderful* -- use a tool designed to implement
your policy.
Trying to change a different tool to also implement your policy is going
to blur it's aim, confuse it about what is and isn't and reduce it's
efficiency.
SpamAssassin should remain sufficiently simple that it can catch most
SPAM[1] heuristically. Other tools should remain good at stripping
dangerous content for Windows clients or implementing domain-specific
policy for email mangling.
Let each tool do what it does best and, if you want something that a
single tool does not do, use another tool /as well/.
Unifying all features into a single product is never the right answer.
Having small tools communicating in chains, each doing what it does
best, is the answer.
Daniel
Footnotes:
[1] Unsolicited *commercial* email.
--
A pedestal is as much a prison as any small space.
-- Gloria Steinem
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