about_macro_viruses

About Macro Viruses/Malware

Macro viruses/malware are application-specific. They infect macro utilities that accompany such applications as Microsoft™ Word (.doc) and Microsoft™ Excel™ (.xls). Therefore, they can be detected in files with extensions common to macro capable applications such as .doc, .xls, and .ppt. Macro viruses/malware travel between data files in the application and can eventually infect hundreds of files if undeterred.

As these file types are often attached to email messages, macro viruses/malware spread readily by means of the Internet in email attachments.

ScanMail prevents macro viruses/malware from infecting your Exchange server in the following ways:

• Detects malicious macro code using heuristic scanning

Heuristic scanning is an evaluative method of detecting viruses/malware. This method excels at detecting undiscovered viruses/malware and threats that do not have a known virus signature

• Strips all macro code from scanned files.