PMDF System Manager's Guide

When setting up your Internet firewall, you presumably considered and established general security policies for your site. You should do the same for e-mail. For instance, depending upon your site, you may want to have explicit policies regarding e-mail address spoofing, the sending of harassing e-mail, list subscriptions, the sending of virus-infected PC executable programs, the use of e-mail for personal business, etc.

What is appropriate policy for your site will depend upon your site's goals and needs and what can be reasonably expected from your users. Your greatest aid in good e-mail security, as in other security, is users who are educated as to your policies and committed to implementing them. With the tightest security procedures in the world, if your users do not understand the reasons for your policies and practices or find them overly burdensome, sooner or later some users will disregard or circumvent them.