Blocking attachments

[Garet Nelson]

Please excuse if this has been discussed recently - I checked the archives
and was unable to find any reference....

Our IT Department is now blocking all incoming email attachments, including
Word documents (they are blocking anything with VBS script and some Word
documents have VBS in the header.) Although I see the value in this in that
we haven't been shut down due to rampant viruses -- blocking to this extent
causes us real problems. For one, the sender does not know the receiver is
not receiving the mail they sent because there is no bounce back.

I have two questions for the list: is blocking to this extent common
practice (or as we are being told "best practice" in colleges/universities)?
And, if so how are people able to conduct business?

tia for your responses,
-garet-


Garet Nelson
Director of Library Instructional Technology
Samuel Read Hall Library
Lyndon State College
Lyndonville, Vermont 05851
(802)626-6446
nelsong at mail.lsc.vsc.edu