E-mail protection

ZoneAlarm Pro's MailSafe™ feature protects you from new viruses, worms, and other malware distributed in e-mail attachments. It also protects you from any old, known threats.

The problem with attachments

Attaching files to e-mail messages is a convenient way of exchanging information.

However, it also provides hackers with an easy way of spreading viruses, worms, Trojan horse programs, and other malware. For example, the infamous "Love Bug" worm was distributed as a Visual Basic Script (.VBS) file

Fortunately, only certain types of attachments can contain potentially dangerous code. These attachments types can be identified by their filename extensions.

About filename extensions

Filename extensions are the characters that appear after the "dot" in a file name. They identify the file type so that the appropriate program or system component can open it. Here are some examples:

	.EXE (an executable file)
	.JS (a javascript file)
	.BAT (a batch process file)

Tip It's a good idea never to open an e-mail attachment unless you know the person it came from, and have confirmed (by phone or separate e-mail message) that that person actually sent it to you. Remember hackers can alter an e-mail message to look like it came from a friend!

The MailSafe quarantine

ZoneAlarm Pro's MailSafe protects you by 'quarantining' e-mail attachments that may contain malicious code.

When an e-mail with an attachment arrives...

MailSafe examines the attachment's filename extension.

If that extension ( in the example at right, .BAT) is in MailSafe's quarantine list, ZoneAlarm Pro changes the filename extension to ".zl*" (where * is a number or letter.)

Changing the filename extension 'quarantines' the attachment by keeping it from running automatically.

When you open the e-mail containing the attachment...

ZoneAlarm Pro displays a MailSafe alert to let you know it has quarantined the attachment. Click OK to close the alert box.

When you try to open the attachment...

ZoneAlarm Pro warns you of the potential risk in opening the attachment. If you're sure the file is harmless and you want to open it, click the Run button. You can also save the file for later.

Tip Users who know how to read code can click Inspect with Notepad to examine the code of attachment itself.