Can LISTSERV scan incoming mail for viruses or worms (or any kind of malicious attachment) before it processes mail for a list?


Yes. LISTSERV supports real-time anti-virus scanning of all messages sent to mailing lists that run under LISTSERV Classic or LISTSERV Classic HPO on Windows and Linux servers, including inline uuencoded binaries and MIME attachments in those messages. This is a value-added feature which, in addition to a regularly-licensed LISTSERV Classic or LISTSERV Classic-HPO installation, requires the following: 


1.For sites with perpetual ("EXP=NEVER") LAKs: An additional "maintenance" LAK, meaning that you must purchase maintenance (which includes automatic anti-virus signature updates for the term of the LAK) for LISTSERV in order to use the feature. This LAK will come from your sales representative automatically when a perpetual LISTSERV LAK is purchased with maintenance and must be renewed yearly. 


2.For all sites: A separate F-Secure Anti-Virus key that should be sent to you by your sales representative along with your LISTSERV LAK. F-Secure Anti-Virus must be installed on your LISTSERV machine to enable anti-virus scanning. 


Please note carefully that the anti-virus scanning feature is available only for Windows Server and Linux running on Intel platforms at this time. Should F-Secure extend its OS support to other L-Soft supported platforms, the feature will become available on those platforms. 


Regardless of LISTSERV's ability to reject mail containing malicious payloads, from a user standpoint the usual education is still always indicated -- never execute a file sent you by a non-trusted source; scan all compressed (.zip, .gz, etc.) archives sent by non-trusted sources before opening them; use automatic virus protection locally; and so forth. It is particularly important to update the virus signature database of your virus protection program early and often so as to offer maximum protection against new worms and viruses.


List owners have the further option of using the "Attachments=" list header keyword to reject or filter MIME attachments. See the next FAQ entry for more information.