Why is my virus type report showing a lower number of virus instances than my mail summary report?

Available Languages

Updated:October 13, 2014
Document ID:118458

Bias-Free Language

The documentation set for this product strives to use bias-free language. For the purposes of this documentation set, bias-free is defined as language that does not imply discrimination based on age, disability, gender, racial identity, ethnic identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and intersectionality. Exceptions may be present in the documentation due to language that is hardcoded in the user interfaces of the product software, language used based on RFP documentation, or language that is used by a referenced third-party product. Learn more about how Cisco is using Inclusive Language.

Contents

Question
Answer

Question

Why is my virus type report showing a lower number of virus instances than my mail summary report?

Answer

The Virus Type report on the Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA) or Cisco Security Management Appliance (SMA) shows a lower number of virus instances than the mail summary report.

Example: The report on Virus Types lists a total of three viruses, while the Mail Summary Report shows 103 virus instances.

The difference in reporting is caused by the Virus Type Report lists (as the name says) reporting the actual names of viruses found by the antivirus engine, while the Mail Summary Report also counts the following events as 'virus':

  • AV repaired message
  • AV encrypted message that is dropped/quarantined
  • AV unscannable message that is dropped/quarantined

So the Mail Summary Report also lists messages that do not contain a real virus (so that it would qualify for the virus type report), as they were not flagged as clean messages by the antivirus engine.

TAC Authored

Contributed by Cisco Engineers

Was this Document Helpful?

FeedbackFeedback

Contact Cisco

This Document Applies to These Products