It's becoming less tenable for smaller departments to maintain their own mail servers given the current security concerns. At Vanderbilt University, we've implemented Trend Micro's mail-scanning software on all our mail servers. All the mail systems are equipped with the Trend Micro software, which intercepts many hundreds of viruses each month. This layer has, by far, made the largest impact on reducing the number of viruses that are seen on desktop computers. It's extremely rare now for the workstation-level antivirus software to catch a virus.
Most organizations rely on file servers to store critical institutional data.
These NetWare, NT, or UNIX servers need to be part of an organization's antivirus strategy. Just as workstation-level antivirus software can check each file as it's accessed by its user, there are server applications that can inspect any file accessed by any user. It's also wise to regularly scan entire network disk volumes with antivirus software. If the organization has implemented antivirus software on its e-mail system and on all of its desktop computers, then it should be extremely rare for a virus to make its way to a network server. But a lapse on a single computer could open the door for a potentially widespread infection on a network server.