E-mail

quarantined messages




Our e-mail system scans all messages intended for delivery to our users for dangerous attachments. Dangerous attachments are files (usually executable) that can contain viruses and which usually do (when sent via e-mail). Files of this type usually have extensions such as EXE, COM, PIF, SCR, etc. It would be extremely rare to receive one of these types of files through e-mail from a legitimate source. The vast majority of these files are viruses, usually propogated by the computers of people who don't even know they are infected. (So called "worms" such as "Klez", etc.)

When a virus such as this hits, it is common for a single user to receive hundreds or thousands of virus infected messages within a short timeframe. Virus infection possibilities aside, the quantity of messages alone can make checking your e-mail a real hassle!

Although it would be very rare for someone to send you a file of this type which you actually want, we recognize that it could happen. For this reason, at the end of every day, our system automatically generates a report to anyone who has had an e-mail message quarantined. This report will alert you to the fact that you have had messages quarantined, and offers you the ability to scan through them to see if any legitimate messages have been accidentally quarantined. The report contains a brief summary and a list of the quarantined messages.

The quarantine report looks like this: 


                  Twisted Bits E-Mail Quarantine Report
                 ***************************************


    Messages were intended for: user@twistedbits.net
         Date messages arrived: Thursday October 16, 2003
    Number of messages blocked: 7
      Size of blocked messages: 1.0 MB


                                 MESSAGE SUMMARY
                                *****************

ID   SIZE  FROM                           SUBJECT                        ATTACHMENTS
---- ----- ------------------------------ ------------------------------ -------------------------
tpPD   160 alibankowsky@qwest.net         Current Critical Patch         Installer77.exe
spPD   148 msafry39@link.net              bug message                    bbso.exe
qpPD   160 msafry39@link.net              Current Microsoft Update       Q384272.exe
ppPD   160 crinriane@novaeranet.com.br    newest security pack           update.exe
opPD   148 petyolficlr@eircom.net         Message                        ensnl.exe
mpPD   148 cfcsalrey@ppnet.com.br         Error Announcement             fimebir.com
kpPD   148 adifranco@tiscalinet.it        Advice                         dumhtx.pif
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 A brief description of the columns in the table above:

           ID: The identifier assigned to this message by our system
         SIZE: The size of this message in kilobytes (1MB = 1024KB)
         FROM: The supposed sender of this message (might be faked)
      SUBJECT: The subject of this message
  ATTACHMENTS: The file names of any attachments which were contained in this message

 Note: The FROM, SUBJECT and ATTACHMENTS columns have been truncated to 30 characters each.



  If you see a message which you would like to have transmitted to your mailbox
so that you can download it, please send an e-mail to quarantine@twistedbits.net
containing the date and ID of the message you want.  If we do not hear from you
within a couple of weeks or so, these messages will be permanantly deleted.


   If you do not wish to receive these quarantine reports, please let us know.
You can stop these reports from coming to particular e-mail addresses, or to all
e-mail addresses at your domain.

  As always, if you have any questions/problems/comments, etc. please feel free to
contact us by e-mailing support@twistedbits.net.


As you can see from the report, if you want to be able to download any of the quarantined e-mail messages, you just need to drop us a line at quarantine@twistedbits.net and let us know which ones you want. If you don't want any of the messages, you don't have to do anything; they will be automatically deleted after a while.