Email security

The most destructive virus / worm attacks on the internet are those that use email to propagate themselves.  The virus relies on users receiving an email from a known party to open an attachments - which, unknown to them, contains a virus or worm.

At this point you are of course infected by the virus, and the virus will then send a copy of itself to as many of the email contacts in your address book as possible in order to infect more people.

Not only is it very embarrassing to infect clients, colleagues and friends, but the virus may also contain a "payload" designed to damage your PC - like making it run a lot slower to destroying information on your hard disk.

Because spreading viruses by email is so effective, virus writers favour this approach - making  attachments you receive in your email the single biggest computer security risk that you are exposed to on a daily basis.

Virus scanners

It is a common misconception  that running a virus scanner on your PC will protect you against this treat.  Unfortunately this is not true, because scanners look for known viruses and worms.

They cannot protect you against the hundreds of new viruses / worms developed every month.

So, contrary to popular belief, virus scanners are your last line of defense - not the first.

Block everything - rather safe than sorry

Since the battle to keep track of new viruses and worms (before they cause damage) is a non-starter, we developed a software solution that will protect you against any new threat :

The Cozahost mail server blocks all executable attachments - regardless if it can be positively identified as a virus / worm or not, and before it reaches your inbox.

The advantages of this approach are:

• You don't have to spend the time to download the virus before your scanner tells you that it is in fact a virus...and then deletes it.
• No executable program will reach your inbox at all - so you are as close to 100% safe from emailed viruses or worms as it is humanly possible to be.
• The sender of the mail (the "infected" person) is automatically notified that (s)he tried to send an executable file (which is probably a virus) - thereby providing a valuable early warning system
• You are notified of the attempted security breach

What if you need executable attachments to be sent?

It does happen from time to time that someone sends you a legitimate executable file - perhaps a self-extracting .zip file or a demonstration program, etc.

In cases like these both you (the recipient) and the sender are notified that the email was blocked (and why). 

The sender should now simply zip the attachment and email it to you again...you can then decide whether or not you want to unzip and execute the program.

You can of course also ask us not to block executable attachments for your account at all - and take your own chances.