Email - Spam
Spam Email Firewall
ODU’s Information Services has implemented a Spam Firewall to help you manage spam e-mail from Internet senders. Generally defined, spam e-mail is “an unsolicited mailing, usually to many people” (The Anti-Spam Home Page http://www.arachnoid.com/lutusp/antispam.html).
However, what one person may characterize as a spam message is not necessarily so for another person. With that said, ODU is not universally blocking all spam. Through this system, you will have the ability to control how aggressively the system will handle spam for you.
How Does the Spam Firewall Work?
The firewall uses built-in criteria to determine if a message is spam. Any message that the system thinks might be spam is tagged by inserting “[SPAM]” into the message’s subject line. If the system is positive that a message is spam, the message will be quarantined. Then, you can review the quarantine list and decide whether or not the message is spam to you.
Please note that you can use this system to manage e-mail messages from Internet senders only.
Getting Started
Before you can use the system, you first need to set up your account.
1. From Internet Explorer, go to http://mail-server.ohiodominican.edu:8000. You will see the following window:
2. Enter your username, which is your full ODU e-mail address (e.g., [email protected]).
4. After you have received your password, you can go back to the spam firewall login, and enter your username and password. Click on the Login button. Or, you may click on the link provided in the e-mail message you received.
Note: You may also follow this procedure if you have forgotten your password.
Setting Your Preferences
You have the ability to perform several changes through the Preferences option on the website.
Changing Your Password
1. After you login to the system’s website, click on the Preferences tab. Change Password displays automatically.
2. Enter your Old Password, which is the password you used to login.
3. Enter a New Password.
4. Retype your New Password to make sure that it is correct.
5. When you are finished, click on the Save Password button. You will see the following window:
6. You will need to login again with your username and new password.
Note: You may also follow this procedure if you have forgotten your password.
Spam Filter Enable/Disable
By default, the spam filtering is turned off. For it to work, you must enable the filter.
2. Click on the Yes button to Enable spam scanning.
3. Click on the Save Changes button. You will see the following confirmation:
Note: If at any time you want to disable spam filtering, just return to the Span Scan Enable/Disable tab from Preferences. Click on the No option, and click on the Save Changes button.
Setting Spam Scoring Levels
A spam score is calculated for each incoming e-mail message to determine the likelihood that the message is spam. By default, the scoring levels are set to 10. You can set scoring levels for the following three categories, as defined by Barracuda Networks:
• Tag email is used to indicate what level you would like the current spam tag to be added to your message subject line. • Quarantine email is used to indicate what level you would like messages to be quarantined.
• Block email is used to indicate what level you would like to block messages.
Information Services recommends that you do customize your scoring levels: Tag email = 3.5; Quarantine email= 9; and Block email = 10. The following describes how to change the scoring levels.
1. From the Preferences tab, click on the Spam Scoring Levels tab. You will see the following window:
the Save Changes button. You will see the following confirmation:
3. Scroll down the screen to the Current Scoring Levels section. Double-click inside the Tag email box, and change the setting to 3.5.
Please note: Do type in the numbers in the boxes. The slide bar will not allow you to select a number with a decimal point.
4. Double-click inside the Quarantine email box, and change the setting to 9.
5. You may leave the Block email setting at 10.
6. When you are finished, click on the Save Changes button. You will see the following confirmation:
Changing Your Quarantine Notice
You have the option to change how often you are notified through e-mail that you have messages in quarantine.
1. From the Preferences tab, click on the Quarantine Notice tab. You will see the following window:
Whitelist/Blacklist Senders
If you know immediately that you want to allow or block particular Internet senders, you can add them to your Whitelist or Blacklist, respectively.
1. From the Preferences tab, click on the Whitelist/Blacklist tab. You will see the following window:
2. If you want to allow a particular e-mail address or domain, enter that information in the Allowed Email Addresses and
Domains field.
Click on the Add button. You will see the following confirmation, along with any other e-mail addresses that you have whitelisted:
3. If you want to block a particular e-mail address or domain, enter that information in the Blocked Email Addresses and
Click on the Add button. You will see a confirmation, along with any other e-mail addresses that you have blacklisted:
Note: If you change your mind about an e-mail address or domain that you have whitelisted or blacklisted, you may click on the trash can icon to the right of the address to remove it from the list.
Working with Your Quarantine
When a message sent to you is determined by the system to be spam, you will receive an e-mail notice like the following, indicating that the message has been quarantined:
From this quarantine summary, you are able to see from whom the message was sent, along with the date the subject of the message. Notice that from this message, you have three courses of action that you can take:
• Deliver the message to your mailbox
• Whitelist the sender and have this and all future messages from this sender delivered to your mailbox • Delete the message from your quarantine
You can actually work with your quarantine list from this summary e-mail message, rather than logging in to the system’s website:
Delivering the Message
If you want the message to be delivered to your mailbox, click on the Deliver action. In a few moments, you will receive the message in your inbox.
Whitelisting the Sender
If you want to whitelist (or allow) the sender and deliver to your mailbox this and all future messages from this sender, click on the Whitelist action. In a few moments, you will receive the message in your inbox. The sender will be added to your Whitelist, as discussed earlier in the “Whitelist/Blacklist Senders” section.
Deleting the Message
You can also choose to delete the message from quarantine by clicking on the Delete action. By choosing to delete, the message will be submitted for spam learning, and messages from this sender will automatically be treated as spam the next time.
If you prefer, you can also work with your quarantine directly from the website:
Using the Website
1. As discussed earlier in the “Getting Started” section, from Internet Explorer, go to
http://mail-server.ohiodominican.edu:8000.
3. Here, you will find the same options to Deliver, Whitelist, and Delete. Click on the appropriate action. You will receive confirmation upon a successful update.
Additional Filtering from the Website
You can also perform additional Mail Filtering from the website. You can choose to filter messages according to the From field, and by Subject and Message contents. Note that by default, the filter is set to None. After you have entered the text you want to filter in the Pattern field, click on the Apply Filter button. If you want to cancel the filter, change the setting back to None, and click Apply Filter.
You will want to filter e-mail that has been tagged with “[SPAM]” in the subject line.
1. From the Quarantine Inbox, click on the Filter pull-down menu and select Subject contains.
2. Click inside the Pattern field, and type [SPAM].
3. Click on the Apply Filter button.
Logging Off of the Website
When you are finished working on the system’s website, be sure to Log Off.
1. Click on the Log Off option at the top-right of the screen.
