Fighting Spam
E-mail is one of the greatest tools the internet has to offer. It has revolutionized the way we communicate in the workplace and has become a vital part of our everyday lives. However, e-mail also allows us to be victimized by one of the more irritating features of the web - Spam. Spam is basically offensive or unwanted e-mail. It takes the form of unsolicited sales pitches, unscrupulous scams, chain letters, and the like.
Information Technology Services (ITS) provides automatic spam filtering for ITS e-mail services using a combination of Brightmail and Ironport technologies. A sample from Fall 2004 showed that more than 86% of the mail received by the supported systems was spam detected by the filters before it ever hit users' mail boxes. The spam filtering service is provided to users of the following ITS mail services:
- austin.utexas.edu
- mail.utexas.edu
- lists.cc.utexas.edu
- www.utexas.edu
- uts.cc.utexas.edu
- ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
To permanently get rid of spam, you will need to do a few things. First, you need to determine where the e-mail originally came from. Second, contact the original sender and ask them to stop sending you the spam. Third, create an e-mail filter that will automatically delete any future mailings from the sender. (If you only want to filter some e-mail from the person, you will need to filter on a case-by-case basis). Finally, you should e-mail copies of your correspondence to the UT ITS Abuse Office at abuse@forum.utexas.edu.
STEP 1: Determine where the e-mail originally came from
To do this, you will need to read the mail headers, which isn't too hard once you've done it a few times. As mail is handled across the Internet, it gets routed through different computers and is appendedwith "Received: from" lines from each one (similar to post marks a letter gets when it goes through the post). The e-mail's originating host, or the original computer that sent the e-mail, is recorded by the first "Received: from" line. The "Received: from" lines start from the bottom and go up as the mail is sent from one computer relay to the next. The original sender is the person you want to ask to stop sending you the junk mail.
For more information about e-mail headers, take a look at Stopspam.org's "Reading E-mail Headers" page.
STEP 2: Contact the original sender and ask them to stop
Now that you know where the e-mail is coming from, you can find out who is responsible for that internet and I.P. address and ask him/her to put a stop
to the spam. To do this, use an online resource such as
CheckDomain.com, which serves as a sort of "directory listing" for the internet. After entering the internet address or I.P. address, information
like the following will appear:
Registrant: (emailscam.net)
North American Rip-offs, LLC
1234 Crooked Lane
Los Angeles CA 90099
US
Address:
101 Shady Deal RD Suite 1
New York, NY 12321
US
Coordinator: Fast Freddie Smith (fastfreddie@emailscam.net)
Upstream Provider: Honest, Joe (Joe@niceguy.net)
You can now send an e-mail to the listed coordinator, Fast Freddie, asking him to stop sending you spam. You should include the full headers in your
message to the coordinator. Please note that the coordinator may not reply to you due to high volumes of reports/complaints, but rest assured that
he/she will take steps to resolve the problem. Be sure to keep a copy of all correspondence related to this issue, especially if the e-mail appears to be
part of a scam.
STEP 3: Create an e-mail filter
Contacting the coordinator should end the flow of spam, but it may stop immediately. This message includes the necessary header information we need
to filter it if another spam mail is received from this web address. So it is useful now to create an e-mail filter that simply moves any future e-mail from
this spam author out of your in-box before you even have to see it. If you wish to keep a record of spam e-mail, you can filter the messages into another
mailbox. Otherwise, set your filter to simply put the spam into the trash.
STEP 4: Notify UT ITS and find out more about Spam
Spam can be much more than a nuissance for the University. E-mail scams can victimize innocent people, chain letters can tie up precious network
resources, and offensive material can adversely impact the entire work environment. The University works hard to balance the desire for maximum
internet access with the need for control of unwanted internet traffic such as spam. You can help by forwarding copies of all correspondence with
spam-related individuals to the
UT ITS Security & Policy Office. They can help with safety and security concerns and can offer advice on how to protect
your computer. Other helpful web resources are
Spamcop.net and
Fight Spam on the Internet!.