Viruses from Print Shop Customers

[louis@jetline.co.za]

Have you any thoughts about the issue of dealing with customers' virus infected media?

Software like Faronics' DeepFreeze (Faronics Deep Freeze Windows Editions - ABSOLUTE System Integrity) to combat short term infections by viruses on customers' flash disks and other media are all fine and well, but by the time the machine restarts to get back to its "virgin" state, the viruses are already looking around on the network and infecting other Windows-based workstations.

Customers get really irate when you tell them that your anti-virus software found viruses on their media, and insist that you must bite down and print their stuff anyway. I understand their point of view, but I also understand that a shop owner needs to consider the cost of downtime due to virus/malware battles vs the potential measly profit from a single page black and white A4 vs the potential loss of a customer who may be printing only an A4 b/w now but will bring you serious business tomorrow.

What is your view on this?

[rbailleu]

could you not just have your favorite antivirus set to scan on access. but sure setup a machine to bring things in and put something powerfull on it to keep out the crap.

[louis@jetline.co.za]

could you not just have your favorite antivirus set to scan on access. but sure setup a machine to bring things in and put something powerfull on it to keep out the crap.

We have a standard IT Policy that suggests a standalone catch-virus machine but there are many operators who just skip it "because there's just no time" or shops where the entire policy is ignored.

still, the real issue, regardless of how and whether or not the virus is detected, is that you have to deal with irate customers who are told their stuff is infected - again, i dont suppose there really is a cure for THAT.

thanks for the reply.

[rbailleu]

yes you just have to decide whether you want their work. deal with the consequences of your decision.

[Mark H]

We have a standard IT Policy that suggests a standalone catch-virus machine but there are many operators who just skip it "because there's just no time" or shops where the entire policy is ignored.

Good policy. Fire the first employee who ignores it and infects a system. After that you will have 100% compliance. Harsh? Yes. However, my network runs my business. If it goes down nothing goes out the door and we loose money and since we offer guaranteed same-day fulfillment this can be big bucks. Beyond just the time-critical impact, there is also the potential for data loss, reinfection, and infecting other customer's machines - if we sent out infected media to a customer there is a significant risk for litigation.

still, the real issue, regardless of how and whether or not the virus is detected, is that you have to deal with irate customers who are told their stuff is infected - again, i dont suppose there really is a cure for THAT.

The customer has no right to be irate with you, it's their media that is infected. Use your sandbox machine to scan it for a virus. If you can clean it great, go ahead and use it. If not, send the customer packing with a complimentary copy of Malwarebytes on a thumb drive and tell them to come back with clean media.

At the end of the day you're risking your business's future for a few dollars of work. Personally, I'd rather turn 10 customers away and sleep well at night than risk everything for one "irate customer" who doesn't care that their computer network is compromised.

Mark H

[mattbeals]

We went through the same thing in the 90's. You've got to scan everything and wait for it. Depending on what software you use you can force a scanning of removable media on insertion. That scan can be set to NOT allow cancelling. It will certainly add time to the job, but you have to cost out/balance that with business requirements. If you decide to force the scanning of all removable media what do you do when you find a virus? Do you remove the virus (if at all possible) or do you reject/eject the disc and not process the job?