Tech Shout!

Gmail has been endowed now with an anti-virus scanning service by Google. Now onwards each time users send and receive attachments, Gmail will automatically scan them for viruses. Whether Google developed the technology in-house or licensed it from a security firm, much less who that firm might be is yet not known.

Gmail previously blocked the transmission of executable attachments but adding anti-virus scanning allows the service to keep pace with its competitors on user security. Yahoo! Mail uses Symantec software to scan for viruses. Hotmail, which has offered anti-virus scanning for some time, licenses its technology from Trend Micro.

The use of anti-virus scanning software by email providers is good for internet safety hygiene, especially keeping in mind the fast-spreading Sober worm is at present accounting for a sizeable slice of net traffic, however it shouldn’t be regarded as a substitute for desktop security software. Now-a-days malware is almost as likely to be offered up as a download from maliciously constructed websites or across network shares as appearing in user’s email in-boxes.