However, Attachments=No does not answer the question by
Kevin Parris <[log in to unmask]> who wrote:

>We need to be able to send attachments on some of our lists, but are
>concerned about the spread of viruses through the list server.  LSoft
>support won't make any particular comments about what does or does not
>work, so I'm hoping those of you who've been doing this for a while can
>help me out.  What kind of anti-virus setup are you using to scan
>messages and attachments arriving at your LISTSERV for distribution?
>We're running LISTSERV and LSMTP together on a WindowsNT 4.0 platform.
>
>  Thank you!

I am planning to test the following setup:
Existing:
Primary mail receiver host with anti-virus software at "abc.company.com"
LISTSERV and LSMTP server on NT at "listserv.company.com"
DNS A (address) entries for both, DNS MX entry for "company.com"

Plan:
Rename LISTSERV server e.g. xyz.company.com, but do not put in DNS.
Delete DNS A record for "listserv.company.com".  Add DNS MX record for
"listserv.company.com", but point to "abc.company.com" mail server.  Add
pointer to "abc.company.com" mail server to have mail sent to
"listserv.company.com" forwarded to "xyz.company.com".  The
"abc.company.com" mail server will probably need a local HOSTS file to
identify "xyz.company.com" instead of DNS.

Desired result:
Incoming mail to "listserv.company.com" will be checked for viruses by the
"abc.company.com" mail server before forwarding to "xyz.company.com".  If
"xyz.company.com" does not receive any viruses, then it cannot send any.
Outgoing email will be sent directly by LSMTP on "xyz.company.com".

There are probably some LSMTP and/or LISTSERV site parameters that need to
be changed.  This is a future project, so if anyone wants to test it
sooner, be my guest.  And good luck.


-----Original Message-----
From: Pete Weiss [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2001 8:04 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Virus protection of lists


[I offer the following *as is* w/ no further explanation.  I had recently
sent this to another correspondent.]

 >help me out.  What kind of anti-virus setup are you using to scan
 >messages and attachments arriving at your LISTSERV for distribution?

--

First and Foremost, we use LISTSERV(R) brand mailing list management
software.  We have configured it (relative to security) as such, which
allows us to better ameliorate spam and virus/worms:

ADMINISTRATION of USA Financial Aid Offices

Subscription= Open,CONFIRM Reply-To= SENDER,Respect
Confirm-Delay= 71 h
Send= PRIVATE           Confidential= No        Review= owner
Validate= NO            Language= NOHTML
Attachments= No
Default-options= Repro,Short,Review
Filter= Also,*postmast*@*,*postmstr*@*,*maiser*@*,*nobody*@*
Renewal= 3-monthly,Delay(7),Probe
Sizelim= 200

This translates into:

One must subscribe in order to be allowed to post to the list

One can only subscribe by going through a process: customer "asks" our
software to subscribe, our software acknowledges that request by
returning a pseudo random number to the requester, the requester returns
that PRN back to our software and is successfully subscribed

Subscribers can not get a list of other list subscribers, unless the
latter post to the list

List does NOT permit non-text attachments e.g., NO .WDP, .EXE, JPG, .XLS,
.VCARD

We limit per message size to 200 lines

List distributions "default" REPLY-TO: the poster, and not the list (this
isn't fool-proof)

New subscribers are automatically moderated, though by manual
intervention, we do turn off moderation for all .EDU subscribers; all
others must "prove" themselves (within our target audience) in order to
post w/o moderation

Multiple list-owners are defined and we encourage the use of the generic
list-owner address of [log in to unmask]; list-owners
coordinate their activities so that mail to the generic address is
answered a timely fashion

One of its "secondary" features is an inter-connected network of peered
(list) servers and it maintains an anti-spam feature among themselves, as
close to real-time as a store-n-forward network will allow.

Our institution has both centralized and distributed security,
information, and network offices/personnel.  We highly encourage, and
provide licenses (some no-charge, others costs) and WEB sites for A/V
software.

See also:

http://www.emoderators.com/moderators/how2list.html

/Pete Weiss
Sr. Systems Engineer -- Penn State


At 09:56 01/16/2001 Tuesday,
 >Our state and regional organizations are looking at what can be done for
our
 >list serves to combat virus transfers.
 >
 >Would you mind sharing more information regarding what you do and other
 >possible resources we can investigate along these lines?