To protect ourselves, system administrators and IT trainers admonish us to remain vigilant and constantly update our antivirus software. This is one of the most reasonable protections against receiving an incoming infection. But there's another alternative. If we think outside the box or, rather, look at the other side of the box, there's an opportunity to prevent transmitting infected messages once we've been attacked. Current antivirus software attempts to protect our systems from attack, but once a virus gets in, there's nothing to stop it from promulgating itself to all addressees in our address book.
Most users send a message to one or two recipients at a time.
A virus that attempts to send a message to a large block of addresses should be detectable and the transmission prevented. On July 2d, QinetiQ will be Britain's largest independent science and technology company. With an 8,000 strong workforce, the new company will continue to deliver science-based solutions to both the Ministry of Defence and private sector clients. I like the idea of an outbound mail monitor because it can be installed for users with large address books who aren't diligent updating their antivirus software. Leave your comments on the message center .