Microsoft Outlook 2000 Service Release Strengthened Security for Microsoft Outlook Forrest Stroud
Strengthened Security for Microsoft Outlook
While the Outlook E-mail Security Update (OESU) doesn't actually patch any security vulnerabilities as a security update typically would, it does provide several security measures that can be put in place to strengthen the security of Outlook. First, the OESU includes e-mail attachment security features that can prevent users from accessing certain file types such as executables, batch files, Visual Basic Scripts (VBS), and Microsoft Shell Scrap Object files (SHS) when sent as e-mail attachments.
A second security feature, the Object Model Guard, alerts Outlook users when an external program attempts to access the user's Outlook Address Book or tries to send an e-mail from the user's account. Finally, the OESU raises the default security settings from the standard "Internet Zone" to the more stringent "Restricted Zone". One effect of the heightened security settings is that active scripting is disabled within restricted sites.
