Hi Grillma,

Thank you for your post. Attachments are not currently supported however this is new feature that will be introduced with the v3.3 release. I've provided grabs below. I'll certainly keep you informed once released

Hope this helps - Attachments will be supported within private messages also

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Thanks Ryan - I see in other posts that v3.3 is due in a week or two. 

Next question.  I am going to operate my company's forum within a VPN (secure network).  And I need to be able to send email (and attachments) within the VPN.  By using either or both of your private email / private message functions, would I still be secure from hackers within the VPN?  We have a need to move very sensitive data between forum users -- we are currently using Outlook Express within the VPN, but it has the awful requirement to require installation of Outlook Express on our users client PCs vs. a browser independent environment such as InstantForum, that requires no installation other than a web browser.

Thanks,

Martin 

Hi Martin,

I'm aiming for the v3.3 release around next week at some point.

Providing you only used the private message features as opposed to the private email feature you would only need to ensure your server and SQL Server database has secure tunneling between your internal network and the external internet.

Of course I cannot guarantee if you will always be 100% safe as i don't fully understand your VPN setup or measures of protection taken. This is really down to your provider or department to ensure the internal network is secure from the outside world. If your data is really sensitive you could put the forums behind a SLL and use IPSec encryption on the network.

The attachments are held within a binary image field within SQL Server so they never actually exist as physical files within the file system.

A few good articles exist with regards to securing SQL Server to ensure the attachments table is locked down...

http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/administration/2000/security/securingsqlserver.asp
http://vyaskn.tripod.com/sql_server_security_best_practices.htm
http://www.sans.org/top20/mssql_checklist.pdf

Again i hope this helps - i'm not a VPN expert but providing you have a good IT team everything should be secure. I would certainly raise the issue with your provider or colleagues

Edit : I would not use email for this unless your SMTP and POP server(s) is within the VPN and again secure from the outside world

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Ryan, this is wrapped in the (features for some not all category of questions) but I was wondering if the attachment functionality can be restricted to certain groups.

I would like to offer attachments to say my paid members but not to just the average joe who comes in and likes to post a ton of files for me host.

Hi Mark,

Great suggestion. This has not been implemented but i could certainly do this. This will hold back the initial 3.3 release so maybe i could add this within the 3.x lifespan ? Would you mind holding out for this providing you can disable the uploading on a per user basis for the moment ? I look forward to your response, Hope your well

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