Comments on: Keep HTML email on a short leash

By: mcwresearch.com » My Black Tuesday Routine

mcwresearch.com » My Black Tuesday Routine — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:49:38 +0000

[...] attacks. We filter email attachments based on MS KB262631 but attackers are increasingly using HTML email to bypass email gateway filters, so its getting trickier to protect your email [...]

By: LonerVamp

LonerVamp — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 21:14:40 +0000

Yeah, I got over that fight pretty quick a few years ago. I keep it around silently though. I’m of the mind that SMTP is broken and dead, it just doesn’t know it yet.

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 16:58:03 +0000

I feel your pain. I fought the HTML fight for about five minutes and realized it was a losing battle. The company I work for is a “creative” company and also a partnership, which is a dual-edged sword. We aren’t bound by many federal regulations but that means I have very few federal regulations to throw at them to push compliance. And being “creative” means they have to appear fashionable and as one guy told me, ‘your text-based email is ugly and boring’ (what would he say if he saw me using Pine? LOL)

Besides, in the grand scheme of things, I have bigger fish to fry, like P2P applications, remote management apps (like GoToMyPC) etc.

By: LonerVamp

LonerVamp — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 14:50:17 +0000

*silently fumes about HTML in email…and embedded browsing in Outlook…and IE being a security disaster in itself…*

What I find best is when someone from marketing walks up and asks about mass-mailing an HTML-formatted email and if that is ok. “Sure, go ahead as long as it is not too big. But be aware that not every corporation allows HTML email to be viewable, and it might trigger some spam filters to block it.”

And the inevitable, “Our client got our emails but all of their users are seeing what looks like HTML code instead of our pretty email. Can you fix this?” Sure, don’t use damned HTML in your email missives. Otherwise, take it up with their IT on how you want them to allow HTML viewing in Outlook.

And after either of those events, the wide-eyed looks from them like you just told them you ran over their new puppy. And while that is fine the first time, they do it 5 times a year anyway, kinda like hoping the broken toaster fixes itself if you just leave it alone for a while to rest up…

/rant