| Some people and businesses indiscriminately send
large amounts of unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE),
also known as "spam", meant to promote a product or
service. Spam is the electronic equivalent of junk mail
sent to 'Current Resident'. In recent years spam content
has expanded to include offensive advertising, malicious
content and computer viruses. |
What steps has the University of Idaho taken to reduce unwanted e-mail?
Information Technology Services (ITS) maintains an enterprise spam
classification system designed to allow easy filtering of unwanted content. The
system identifies messages that are most likely spam and lets you control how
you would like to deal with these messages. By subscribing to this service you
will greatly reduce or eliminate the amount of spam you receive.
Figure 1: stats on amount of spam caught by UI spam appliances
over the past 7 days
What spam filtering options are available?
Go to http://support.uidaho.edu/
and follow the link to Account Management. Log in and click on
"E-mail Spam Filtering". Three options will be available
Will these spam options be available if I forward my
e-mail to another address?
If you forward to a non @uidaho.edu address, e-mail will not
automatically be filtered as spam. There is an option under
'E-mail Forwarding' on the 'Account Management' site to allow
processing for spam prior to forwarding messages.
How do I report incorrectly identified messages?
Messages that are incorrectly classified as spam can be reported
to helpdesk@uidaho.edu.
Click here for instructions on how to properly report these
messages.
What spam classification system is the UI using?
We are using multiple Proofpoint Protection Software (PPS)
servers from Proofpoint,
Inc. The PPS system has complete enterprise-grade message
control that provides protection against spam and viruses using
their proprietary Machine Learning (MLX) technology and the
F-Secure anti-virus engine.
How will this affect legitimate mass mailings from my
group, department or college?
Extra care needs to be taken if you are sending out mailings to
large numbers of users. It may be possible for legitimate
messages to be blocked depending on how the messages are
formatted, the text they contain, and the number of recipients.
Here are some steps we recommend to ensure your mailings are not
affected:
- Make sure a copy of the message you send out is also
delivered to your email account and/or others in your
office. This is a good way to ensure the messages went
through the system properly.
- Send a test message to yourself prior to sending it out
to everyone. Each message will contain an X-SpamDetails:
header that includes information about how the message
scored by the anti-spam software.
- If you have a very large number of recipients (over
2000), contact ITS for assistance in sending out the
message.
- Report to ITS any legitimate messages that are blocked.
Please include the entire received message including
complete headers.
What steps can be used to keep my address safe?
- Do not provide your e-mail address to any companies or
web pages you do not trust. It is a good idea to read their
"privacy statement" as well to see how your contact
information will be used.
- Make sure your e-mail address doesn't appear on any web
pages (e.g. search the web for your address).
- Start using spam filtering by following the instructions
provided above.
- Delete spam messages without reading them. Many messages
include web links to "phone home" to track active accounts.
- Do not respond to removal links or reply with "remove"
to these messages. This is another technique used to verify
e-mail addresses.
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