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UC DAVIS: Information and Educational Technology - Office of the Vice Provost May 1, 2003 DEANS, DIRECTORS, DEPARTMENT CHAIRS, AND CAMPUS ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICERS RE: New Spam Filtering Service for Campus Email Users In response to increasing numbers of unsolicited commercial email, or spam, today the campus email servers will begin scanning incoming and outgoing email for spam. The software selected, SpamAssassin, will identify and tag suspected spam based on the results of a wide range of heuristic tests on mail headers and body text. This new solution was developed to provide an automatic way of managing the proliferation of spam while minimizing the frustration resulting from unwanted commercial and often illicit email. The following two options are offered so users can filter spam away from their email in-boxes: * With the client-side option, users configure their email programs (e.g. Outlook, Eudora) to recognize SpamAssassin tags and create a folder into which spam can be filtered. Using this option, users will download all email as usual, including those tagged as suspected spam, to their computers. Any mail tagged as spam will be directed to their spam folders, and they can view, delete, or move suspected spam using their email program. (Only messages with a "spam score" over a certain threshold are tagged with a special indicator. This indicator is normally invisible to the recipient unless the mail program is set to display full headers, but it will allow the message to be automatically filtered.) * The second option applies to users of the campus Web-based email program (Geckomail). With this option, users complete a Web-based form (see http://email.ucdavis.edu/secure/spamfilter.pl) to set up spam filtering. SpamAssassin then tags suspected spam and moves those tagged messages to a spam folder (created automatically) directly on to the campus email servers. Suspected spam messages will remain on the server for four weeks so users can view them if they so choose. In addition, weekly email digests can be provided at the usersrequest to notify them that there are messages in their spam folders. (It is possible that the tagging software may occasionally tag a message that is not spam.) Those messages will be deleted after the maximum four-week holding time expires. More information about both options and instructions for configuring commonly-used email programs are available on the Spam Filtering Web pages at http://security.ucdavis.edu/spam.cfm. Campus faculty and staff are also encouraged to check with their departments technology support staff if they need additional assistance. (See the list of UC Davis Technology Support Coordinators linked from the Spam Filtering Web site.) Departments managing their own email servers are encouraged to use this same service. Instructions for configuring email servers and technical contact information are posted on the Spam Filtering Web pages (http://security.ucdavis.edu/spam.cfm). Questions about this new service should be addressed to security@ucdavis.edu. Sincerely, John Bruno, Vice Provost Information and Educational Technology 03-051
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