Spam Management with PureMessage

Transcription

1 Spam Management with PureMessage The University has implemented a new spam management system that offers several improvements over the previous service. Not only does PureMessage detect spam more successfully than the previous system, it also quarantines spam messages away from actual mailboxes. PureMessage can also be configured for individual needs. digests of quarantined spam messages are sent out once a day at 6.00 a.m. to each address that has quarantined . The recipient can release some or all of the quarantined messages, or leave them in quarantine. is kept in quarantine for seven days at which point it is automatically deleted. An example of a quarantine digest is shown below. Because PureMessage is not able to associate all the addresses with each individual, some people will receive more than one daily digest. This may be addressed at a later date. For example, suppose you receive for jsmith@otago.ac.nz which is forwarded to jo.smith@stonebow.otago.ac.nz. You also receive sent directly to the stonebow address. When you read your you may find there are two digest messages from the PureMessage service listing quarantined messages. The digest messages will be sent from the address manager@antispam.otago.ac.nz - so if you currently only accept from known addresses you should add this address to your whitelist. Releasing Messages There are two ways in which to release a quarantined message. One is by and the other is to log into the PureMessage End User Web Interface (EUWI). The digest messages come in both a text and html version. The html version can make administration easier for people.

2 The quarantine digest message that is sent out contains some informational instructions followed by a list of messages in the quarantine (see picture above). The list of messages is denoted by a key in square brackets []. To release messages simply reply to the digest message and remove all the lines that reference messages you do not want. Any other lines that don t contain any reference keys are ignored by the quarantine. If your client is set up to mark the original text in a reply with say a > then this will still work correctly. An example of the text reply to release messages is shown below. If your client is set to view html then you can simply click on a message key to create an appropriate reply for the quarantine. An example of the html reply to release a message is shown below. The message that has been requested to be released from quarantine will be delivered soon after. The End User Web Interface (EUWI) Individuals can configure PureMessage for their own requirements. For example, if you find mail from a regular source is incorrectly flagged as spam you can add this address to a whitelist so that mail from that address is always delivered. In a similar way you can create blacklists. It is not expected that managing spam via the EUWI will be the standard practice. Once people have configured it for their individual use, then simply replying to the

3 daily quarantine digest with those messages that need to be released (if any) is all that is needed. To access the End User Web Interface go to the web site The login details are shown below. The login details required are your address and the password generated by PureMessage for that address. When you access this page for the first time or if you haven t logged in for awhile, you will need to request a password for your address. This password is only valid for a few days after which you will need to request a new password. If you forget your password or discard the containing the password you can simply request a new one and this will replace any previous ones that you had. Click on the here link and then enter the address you wish to configure (for example, jo.smith@stonebow.otago.ac.nz) and click on the Send Authorization button. You will need to request a password for each variant of your address. For example, jo.smith@stonebow.otago.ac.nz and jsmith@otago.ac.nz and then login with each of those separately. The password details will be sent to the address you entered. When you open the that has been sent to you can either click on the Click Here link if reading the in html mode, or copy the password supplied and paste it into the login page of the EUWI. An example of the password message is shown below.

4 Once logged in you will see a number of menu items. Blocked Messages lists all the quarantined . These can be sorted by Score, Sender, Subject or Date. If you delete messages then you can view these in the Deleted Messages item. The Approved Senders and Blocked Senders items allow you to create exceptions to the quarantine process. Mail from Approved Senders will always get delivered and is useful when you find some regular is often flagged as spam. The Blocked Senders means that from those addresses will always get marked as spam.

5 The Options item allows people to have all delivered regardless, turn off digest notifications and/or hold messages for a set period. This is useful if people will not be able to check their digests for a period. The default language that is used within the EUWI can also be changed from English. Clicking on the Help menu item will open up a separate window with a good amount of information available. If you have any other questions, please contact the ITS HelpDesk ( helpdesk@otago.ac.nz, phone: or ).