Endpoint Protection

A question was posed to me by a colleague at work that led me to the discovery that SEP 11's Outlook Auto-Protect feature uses an "Exchange Client Extension" to work with Outlook 2007 and earlier.  However, Outlook 2010 no longer supports Exchange Client Extensions (see: “Third-party Exchange client extensions do not load”):

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc179110.aspx#BKMK_WhatsRemoved

Does anyone know whether Symantec be replacing this functionality for Outlook 2010 or discarding it?  Thank you,

Rich Caserta

Hey Rich, thanks for the finding and providing the technet link. I guess you can submit a idea here for https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/node/add/idea & hope Symantec to include this in the next version

Thanks 797308s, I was secretly hoping someone would supply the idea link.  :)  I will post there also.  Otherwise, I'd love to hear from someone saying it really does work, and here's what we need to do...

Rich

Thanks Rich for posting this here, we'll see if they will fix it in the next version. Sigh...

Per TechNet: Third-party exchange client extensions are replaced by add-ins built by using Microsoft Visual C++, Visual Studio Tools for Office, or third-party tools that can create an Outlook COM add-in.

-whip

Hi Rich,

With a bit of research I have confirmed what you have reported. SEP's optional Outlook protection works fine with Outlook 2003, 2007, etc but a technology change in 2010 will prevent it from operating as designed.

I have just voted to agree with your Idea at https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/idea/sep-11-outlook-auto-protect-will-no-longer-work-outlook-2010 and encourage the same from all other community forum members who plan to use Office 2010.  The more support this idea receives, the better the chances are that Outlook 2010 support will be included in a future release.

The good news: if a proper mail security program like Symantec Mail Security for MS Exchange (SMSMSE) is installed on the comapny's Exchange server or elsewhere in the mail flow (a dedicated mail scanning appliance, for instance) then any threats or other unwanted content should be cleaned long before the messages reach the end users.  SEP's optional mail scanning components are of most use only in very small offices or unmanaged deployments.

Thanks and best regards,

Mick