Linux Email

Testing e-mail filtering

Viruses, by definition, are things that we would prefer to avoid having any contact with at all. But in order to be certain that our filtering and detection processes are working correctly and that we are fully protected, we need to have access to a virus for testing purposes. Using real viruses for testing in the real world in a production ready environment is rather like setting fire to the trash can in your office to see whether the smoke detector is working. Such a test will give meaningful results, but with unappealing risks and unacceptable side effects. Therefore, we need our EICAR test file that can safely be mailed around and which is obviously non-viral, but which your antivirus software will react to as if ...