Protecting Microsoft Outlook against Viruses

Overview

Post Date: December 20, 2006

Viruses can involve Microsoft Outlook in several ways:

A user opens a virus-infected attachment received via an Outlook e-mail message. Because this is the most common way viruses spread, many system administrators block certain attachments at the server or use the Outlook Email Security Update to block such attachments at the client.

Messages exploiting certain vulnerabilities in HTML mail can force a malicious file attachment to run even if the user only views it in the preview pane or opens the message. Getting the latest patches for Internet Explorer provides protection.

Because of Outlook's easy-to-use programming model, viruses can propagate themselves by reading the Outlook address books and sending new virus-infected messages to everyone found there. However, virus developers seem to be aware of the new security provisions in Outlook, because the latest viruses have included their own SMTP engine to send messages, thus avoiding Outlook's security prompts.

This page provides information on how to protect your computer from Outlook-related viruses.

About the "!0000 with no email address" technique: The message circulating that you can protect against email-borne viruses by adding a contact with the name "!0000" and no email address or your own email address is a hoax. The technique does not protect you. For one thing, adding a contact with no email address ensures that the contact does not appear in the Outlook Address Book at all, so the virus would never see it. Adding your own address just means you'll get a copy of whatever message the virus sends -- if it uses the address book. However, viruses don't need to bother with address books. Some of the latest harvest addresses from other sources on your system, such as cached web pages.

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Keywords: Protecting, Microsoft, Outlook, Viruses