SPAM
Academic Computing Handbook 2007-2008 | DoIT

Unwanted e-mail has become an enormous problem for everyone. The number of SPAM messages (unsolicited ‘junk’ e-mail sent to large numbers of people to promote products or services) and e-mail viruses sent on the Internet will only continue to increase. To address ever-growing concerns and loss of productivity due to spam messages and e-mail borne viruses, the Division of Information Technology at Roosevelt University has installed Barracuda, a dedicated email filtering appliance.

The most important job of the device is to block spam and virus traffic before it ever reaches RU’s network or mail servers. This allows the e-mail servers to run more efficiently and helps all RU users to have a better e-mail experience.

The system allows each user to establish their own personalized spam settings, since one person’s subscribed newsletter could be other person’s spam (for example jdoe@roosevelt.edu might consider an email message from Border’s bookstore as junk while rlye@roosevelt.edu might find such a message helpful in learning about new publications). The Barracuda system provides each user with a personalized, password-protected web site from with tools for configuring the system to meet each user's needs. The username by default is the user's full RU email address (for example, jdoe@roosevelt.edu) and the password is sent via a welcome email message. This password is independent from your other RU passwords and will not change when you change the password on your normal email account, and vice versa.

Details on managing spam and using the Barracuda spam filter are available on the RUSecure section of the web site http://www.roosevelt.edu/rusecure/spam.htm. Screenshots are provided to give you a feel for the web site and provide help using the system's navigation tools. Also included are tips in configuring Outlook to help block spam and an FAQ section that should answer most of your questions. If you still need help or have additional questions, please contact the Help Desk online at http://www.roosevelt.edu/helpdesk, or by phone at 312-341-4357.

[Rev. 17 September 2007]

Academic Computing Handbook | DoIT