Virus Primer

Viruses originate from three primary sources, (listed below in order of frequency):

1. email attachments
2. removable media such as floppy disks and CD-ROMS
3. downloaded files from the Internet or within your local network

The viruses attach themselves to legitimate files or are completely self-contained files. Usually, the viruses are only activated by the user opening or running the infected file. Simply opening the main body of the email will generally not activate a virus.

The email server in the MISappliance screens all incoming and outgoing email attachments and takes the steps outlined in the graphic below. Users should be aware that if they use other email servers in addition to the MISappliance, they are not protected from viruses from attachments sourced from those email servers. It is possible to configure some additional email servers to forward the emails through the MISappliance thereby invoking it's virus protection mechanisms.

In order to have a complete virus protection system, a user should also use desktop anti-virus software. This helps protect against the two less frequent virus sources. People sometimes don't take this extra precaution because the software is fee based and it can also have a noticeable performance impact on the users' PC.

MISappliance Based Antivirus Solution Architecture

MISappliance Virus Notification System

The MISappliance automatically alerts the appropriate personnel that a virus problem has been dealt with. The following graphic depicts those alerts.