Microsoft Exchange 2003 and Spam FAQ's

1. What is spam?
   Some people and businesses indiscriminately send large amounts of unsolicited e-mail meant to promote a product or service.  Spam in this sense is the electronic equivalent of junk mail sent to 'Current Resident'.
    
2. What can be done?
   Computer Services cannot stop unwanted email from reaching the University of Montevallo’s (UM) email systems. To do so would mean that UM would need to cut itself off from the Internet.  It is much the same as your mailbox at home: as long as you have an address, you will be sent junk mail. The biggest difference is that at home it costs someone the price of postage to send you the mail. The price is much less for Internet junk mail.
   
   The use of spam is at an all time high and still rising. Spammers are becoming more sophisticated and databases of e-mail addresses are growing. As long as spam is viewed as a free form of advertising, its use will probably continue to increase.
    
3. How do they get my email address?
   1. If you give a company your e-mail address, not only can they turn around and use it, but they can sell it very cheaply to other companies who will also use it too. This applies to supplying your address verbally as well as entering it online.
       
   2. Some computer viruses and worms will scan your computer for every e-mail address it has saved in address books or cached from the web. The viruses may spread those e-mail addresses along with themselves around the Internet.
       
   3. Participation in online discussion groups or bulletin boards provide spammers with another avenue to get your e-mail address.
       
4. What is Computer Services doing to stop spam?
   The latest version of Microsoft Exchange 2003 has a Real-time Block List (RBL) solution to reduce the amount of spam that gets delivered.  The RBL allows the email server to reject connections from known spammers.  This stops mail from those domains from ever reaching us.
    
5. Will the RBLs filter all of my spam?
   NO.  A Real-time Block List, RBL, will not stop all spam, because the majority of spammers rarely send all their mail from the same set of servers.  Most of them change Internet services providers frequently to keep from becoming "known spammers.”
   
   There are also thousands of computers on the Internet owned by companies, organizations, and even home users that were either set up improperly or not updated correctly.  These computers can often be exploited by spammers to send their mail anonymously and avoid detection.  If your computer uses Microsoft Windows, be sure to regularly use the "Windows Update" feature to prevent this and other things from happening to your computer.
    
6. What RBLs does the University of Montevallo use?
   In determining which Real-time Block Lists (RBLs), Computer Services has tried to use organizations that have been used by other Universities and that have a reputation in the industry of being careful not to put legitimate email senders on their lists.  In addition to maintaining a local Real-time Block List, the Exchange 2003 server is currently configured to use the following RBLs:
    

   RBL	Provider's Website
   SBL-XBL.spamhaus.org	http://www.spamhaus.org
   BL.spamcop.net	http://www.spamcop.net/bl.shtml
   List.dsbl.org	http://dsbl.org

   
    

7. Can non-spam email be blocked?
   Yes.  Unfortunately, an email system can be reported as being a possible source of spam and placed on a RBL even though legitimate email may come from that system.  Some providers of RBLs do an excellent job of trying to prevent legitimate email senders from getting on their lists.  Some providers do not.  Computer Services has tried to research the providers of these RBLs and only use those that carefully compile their lists.  However, mistakes sometimes happen.  If a sender is blocked they will get a reply from the email system that will say something similar to the following:
   
   …169.10.230.133 has been blocked by rbl.provider.com…
   
   This message may seem cryptic but it actually states the identity of the sender’s email server and the name of the RBL that blocked their email message.  If the sender can give you this information, Computer Services can use this information to investigate and possibly find a cause for the mistake and even a possible solution.
    
8. The RBLs aren’t stopping all my SPAM.  Is there anything else I can do?
   Yes.  Many emails have key words in the message or subject lines that can help you develop rules in your email client software, Microsoft Outlook.  You can create rules to help you sort, move, and/or delete messages based on a wide variety of criteria.  If you need assistance setting up rules in Microsoft Outlook you can contact the Computer Services Helpdesk at (205) 665-6520 and we will be happy to help you get started.
    
9. Can I not have SPAM filtered from my email?
   Yes.  Microsoft Exchange 2003 does have a mechanism to input an “Exception List”.  This Exception List turns filtering off for a specific email account.  The list is an “all or nothing” list, however.  Therefore, we can not set things up so that only some block lists apply to your account.  If placed on the Exception List, all potential spam will be delivered to your account.

Please contact the COmputer Services Help Desk at (205) 665-6520 between the hours of 8:00 am and 5:00 pm Monday - Friday with any questions.  You can also email the Help Desk.