Re: IE5 allows executing programs

From: David LeBlanc (dleblancat_private)
Date: Tue Sep 07 1999 - 11:23:17 PDT

  • Next message: Kragen Sitaker: "Re: IE5 allows executing programs"

    A couple of people have sent me mail asking how to set Outlook 2000 such
    that mail comes in under the 'Restricted Sites' zone.  Here's how:
    
    select Tools menu, Options item
    select security tab
    
    The area you want is in the middle of the page in the section marked
    'Secure Content'.  Default setting is 'Internet', which isn't too bad, but
    'Restricted Sites' is better.  One good reason for this is that most people
    don't have any sites in 'Restricted Sites' list, so anything you set in
    that zone won't screw up your normal web browsing.  Another good reason is
    that the default security settings are better for this zone.  Even with the
    'High Security' settings, I like to go in and tweak the following:
    
    Script ActiveX Controls Marked Safe for Scripting - ActiveX seems to be
    disabled in other places, but go ahead and set this to prompt or disable
    just in case there is some exception I'm not aware of.
    
    Microsoft VM Java Permissions - the sandbox is set to high, but given that
    every Java VM out there has had a breach or another, and you don't know
    when the next will show up, I disable this.  Who needs dancing bunnies in
    their e-mail anyway?
    
    Scripting, Active Scripting - I set this to disable.
    
    I haven't noticed any legitimate e-mail breaking, so I think these changes
    can be made without impacting anything you or your users might want.
    Please test this on your own before doing this to lots of machines.  YMMV.
    The above is what I personally do, and may or may not reflect the views of
    my employer or anyone else.
    
    I'm reasonably sure that these settings disallow all of the e-mail attacks
    (attachments notwithstanding) that I'm aware of, so this should help make
    your system more secure against not only known attacks, but whole classes
    of undiscovered issues.
    
    I'm not sure what the variants of Outlook allow in this respect - I think
    the same thing was in Outlook 97, but I don't have it installed so I can't
    go check.  Not sure about Outlook Express, and I don't know how Eudora 4.x
    works with this, either.
    
    
    David LeBlanc
    dleblancat_private
    



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