Managing Spam

Spam is unsolicited e-mail that crowds inboxes with unwanted and objectionable materials. Spam can hinder e-mail communication by making valid e-mail messages difficult to identify.

Successfully managing spam requires a combined effort. The university does whatever it can, within the limits of the law, to prevent spam. You can take additional steps to prevent spam and report abuses when they do occur.

What We Do to Prevent Spam

Information Technology Services (ITS) runs a centralized solution for filtering spam from many university e-mail services. Although ITS anti-spam solutions are very effective, it is impossible —for a variety of reasons—to detect all spam. ITS does, however, adjust the combined hardware and software anti-spam technologies in use on campus to adapt to new spamming techniques. Even with these measures, you may occasionally see spam leak through to your inbox.

What You Can Do To Protect Yourself

Many commercial mail providers include spam filtering as part of their service. There are also steps you can take to help protect yourself from spam by personally using filters, being smart about “phishing” schemes, protecting your personal computer with BevoWare anti-virus and security software, and reporting any abuses that occur.

Best Practices

Apply these best practices to protect yourself from spam and to report abuses when they happen.

Use filters and rules to screen unwanted mail. Filters and rules are tools within e-mail programs that identify incoming messages as spam. Spam messages are then routed to a specified folder—such as Junk Mail, Trash, or Deleted Items. The process for creating filters and rules differs slightly in each program but the basic concept is the same. Contact the ITS Help Desk if you have questions about creating filters and rules.
Learn how to view complete headers in your e-mail messages. Viewing a complete header displays information about the sender and the route the message takes before arriving in your inbox. If you report spam to a service provider, sending a complete header will help them determine the origin of the spam. This will make filters and rules more effective and also enables the ITS Help Desk staff to better assist you.
Don’t be fooled by various “phishing” schemes designed to trick you into revealing personal information. Some spam messages contain urgent requests for personal information such as bank account numbers. Frequently they appear to come from reputable institutions. Don’t trust such "phishing" requests and delete such e-mails immediately. Also, it is good practice to never follow instructions to "remove yourself from the list.” These removal instructions are a gimmick used to verify that yours is a valid e-mail address. If you click on it, spammers will add you to their list or sell your address to someone else. Replying in any way to a spam message lets spammers know they have found a valid e-mail address.
Be careful when sharing your personal information online. Don’t provide any personal information such as an address, phone number or e-mail, if you are on a non-secure Web site. A secure site will start with "https" or display a locked padlock in the status bar at the bottom of window.
Report the problem to the spammer’s provider. If you receive spam that violates university policies, contact the Information Security Office (ISO).
Remember to always abide by the university’s Acceptable Use Policy. Specifically, you must not: