ALL email passed through our mail gateway and went to our Exchange server which:  processed the email and then either (1) considered the email spam and refused delivery or (2) delivered to the appropriate location.  This means that ALL email (spam or legitimate email) was being processed by our Exchange server.

Our Exchange Server not only handled email but also spam filtering - a very heavy load for a server.  For example, on Tuesday, June 23rd, our Exchange server handled over 15,000 emails.  Of these 73% were spam and 27% were clean.  We are slowly phasing out the old system.  By the end of July, the link you were using to access your quarantine (i.e. http://greatmountain.terra.local:8081/) will be gone.

"Sophos Email Appliances, part of Sophos Email Security and Data Protection, secure the mail gateway from spam, phishing, viruses, spyware, and other malware, and employ content filtering."  According to West Coast Labs in March 2008, "This email appliance blocks more than 99 percent of spam at the email gateway.

By handling this process at the mail gateway, this spam email will be automatically blocked from coming into our internal environment.  Since spam email will not filter down into our Exchange environment, this will provide better protection for our mailboxes and take the load off of the Exchange server.  We will now also be providing spam filtering for all students on campus.  Checking your personal quarantine can now be accessed on or off campus.

On Monday, June 29th, our new spam filter handled 13,105 pieces of email.  Of those only 933 were legitimate emails.  The other 12,172 emails were spam.

Spam filters use "a range of anti-spam techniques included obfuscation detection, URL tracking, heuristics, and content fingerprinting" to calculate the chance of whether an email is spam or legitimate.

If an email falls into the 90% or higher range of chance that it is spam, the email is automatically discarded as "high" spam.  If an email falls into the 50% to 89% range, it is automatically quarantined as "medium" spam.   These "medium" spam emails can be found in your personal quarantine.

You can access your personal quarantine from ON or OFF CAMPUS.  Just go to the link - My Personal Quarantine.  You login with your Terra username and password.  The same username and password you use to access computers, email, or any of the portals.  For more detailed instructions, please see the attached document.

Besides the anti-spam techniques, we filter email by content.  Any email with offensive language is automatically discarded.  Email which as a restricted attachment (such as an .exe file) is quarantined.  Email with specific content such as the word debt, ecard, offshore, etc… is quarantined.  This quarantined email is not accessible through your personal quarantine.  Only IT department personnel can release such blocked email from quarantine.  If you were expecting an email, which was not delivered to your mailbox nor is in your personal quarantine, please email the Help Desk at HelpDesk.  Help Desk personnel can release any email blocked for content.