September
16, 2004
IT TAKING STEPS
TO CAN THE SPAM
Top 10 Ways You
Can Reduce Spam
- Never reply to spam.
- Use e-mail filters.
- Use discretion when providing your UH e-mail address.
- Educate yourself about spam.
- Attend the free IT instructor-led training class on spam
and PC health care.
- Report spammers.
- Use desktop anti-spam software, such as iHateSpam.
- Install and update your anti-virus software.
- Use a personal firewall to prevent applications from accessing
the Internet without your permission.
- Avoid purchasing products from unsolicited e-mails.
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E-mails containing these types of messages
are typically met with a quick tap of a computer keyboard’s
“delete” key. But with the help of Information Technology
(IT) at the University of Houston, there may be fewer keyboard clicks
in the near future as efforts to reduce unsolicited electronic messages
– “spam” – in campus e-mail accounts are
intensified.
Chuck Shomper, associate vice president for
information technology and chief information officer, recently delivered
a presentation to the Faculty Senate that included steps IT has
taken to reduce spam messages by 80 percent.
“In June, we started blocking known
spammers,” he said. “What we do is subscribe to a ‘block’
list, which contains addresses of spammers. If an e-mail is coming
from an address on the ‘block’ list, it is rejected."
Shomper added that IT is currently using
spam-filtering software with enhanced logic, which further scrutinizes
incoming e-mail based on wording, content and other criteria that
identify it as possible spam. Likewise, IT uses software that blocks
dictionary attacks, which are systematic mass e-mails sent to a
multitude of addresses – whether they’re active –
within a domain such as the UH e-mail server.
“Spammers will do this by creating
e-mail addresses in order to get a minuscule number of them correct,”
Shomper said “This attack results in a high amount of e-mail
traffic, which is mostly sent to invalid addresses, clogging our
servers and slowing down mail processing.”
Last fall, IT implemented spam flagging to
identify unsolicited messages. Using SpamAssassin, which is enterprise-level
spam-flagging software, incoming e-mails are scanned and tested.
If tests are positive, the message is flagged “*****SPAM*****.”
Users can then decide whether to open or discard flagged messages,
or manage them using e-mail filters.
In some instances, however, a non spam message
might be inadvertently flagged as spam. If this occurs, Shomper
said to alert the IT Help Desk at (713) 743-1411 or e-mail spam@uh.edu
in order to request a legitimate e-mail address be allowed to pass
without being flagged.
IT’s anti-spam efforts are based largely
on recommendations by the Information Technology Computing Committee
(ITCC) and an advisory group consisting of faculty, staff and students.
Despite this success rate, Shomper indicated
that spam will continue to be an ongoing issue for IT and users
of UH e-mail accounts. With that in mind, IT is keeping its guard
up to prepare for current and future spammers.
When a computer is hacked or becomes infected
by a virus, it can sometimes be used to send out spam e-mail without
the user’s knowledge. Currently, IT is removing viruses in
attachments within spam messages and is considering completely blocking
any message containing a virus.
Shomper said IT also plans to implement a
new, more potent spam-blocking software, Sophos PureMessage, in
late 2004 or early 2005.
In combating spam, particularly on a university
level, IT is also adhering to the adage “knowledge is power.”
A comprehensive guide to spam is available on a special Reducing
Spam section of the IT Web site. Additionally, IT offers free training
courses in reducing junk e-mail. For more details on these and other
courses, visit the IT Training site.
“Spam will continue to impact the university,”
Shomper said. “IT, in collaboration with the colleges and
divisions, will continue to review ways to reduce and prevent its
entry into UH e-mail accounts and servers. The campus community
can also help by becoming more informed about spam and how to prevent
it from negatively affecting their e-mail accounts or their office
computers.”
Mike Emery
memery@central.uh.edu
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