SPAM
Spam is junk email. Like unwanted advertisements or announcements that arrive in postal mail, these unsolicited messages clog delivery systems and increase the number of messages a recipient must sort through in order to find legitimate mail. The number of spam messages sent to the Rice email system far outweighs the number of legitimate messages. Worse, spam messages can serve as a front for malicious individuals who are attempting identity theft or fraud. This is called phishing. This elevates spam from being a time-eating nuisance to an actual danger for unsuspecting mail recipients.
The Office of the Vice Provost for Information Technology has introduced several tools and applications to reduce the quantity of spam at Rice. Black lists are used to prevent spam from entering the Rice email system. Spam Assassin tags suspicious messages in the subject line, creating an easy, visual identifier for likely junk mail in an email inbox. DSPAM is an individual filtering tool that can identify likely spam messages and either tag them or hold them in a quarantine area for recipients to view later. Email filters can also be applied at the local desktop level by individuals.
If spam remains a nuisance, contact the Help Desk for assistance in tuning DSPAM or other filters to more aggressively tag or quarantine suspicious messages. It is also possible to opt out of the black list service and anyone who believes they may be missing legitimate messages can opt out immediately.
- Blacklist - Blacklists can be helpful in getting rid of phishing and spam emails.
- How it Works - A description of the blacklist process.
- Opting Out - How to remove yourself from blacklisting.
- Greylisting - Learn about a new tool that Rice will use to enhance spam protection.
- Phishing - How to protect your self from electronic scams.
- DSPAM - An explanation on how to use DSPAM, the highly effective filtering tool.
- Open DSPAM - Open the DSPAM application in your browser window.
- Training DSPAM - How to train DSPAM to recognize emails as SPAM.
