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SpamEject Firewall Frequently Asked Questions

Q How is “spam” defined?

A Unwanted e-mail

Q The announcement stated: “You will be receiving an email from the spam appliance each day with a summary of the spam that was caught.” What address will this message come from?

A It will come from Spam Eject Spam Firewall <postmaster@spameject.com>

Q How often will I receive notice from the SpamEject Spam Firewall service?

A You will receive notice for every day that your quarantine contains spam. You will receive a quarantine message for each domain address that is being scanned.

Each user of the SpamEject Spam Firewall spam filtering service can determine how often they wish to receive notice from the SpamEject Spam Firewall service. Within your quarantine, click on your “Preferences” tab, then click on “Quarantine Notification.” You can choose “Daily,” “Weekly” or “Never.” “Daily” is recommended.

Q How do I get into my SpamEject Spam Firewall quarantine? Do I need a login and password?

A The SpamEject Spam Firewall service generates a random login and password that will be delivered to your email address. But you do not need to login to your quarantine. Simply click on the link in the SpamEject Spam Firewall message you receive once per day and it will take you to your quarantine.

Q What is the URL for my quarantine? Can I bookmark it or add it to my favorites?

A It is located at:
http://barracuda.spameject.com:8000

You can bookmark or add this URL to your favorites list in your web browser, but you will be prompted for a login and password. You may want to just click on the link at the bottom of your daily email notice to go directly to the quarantine.

Q Should I change my password to access my SpamEject Spam Firewall account?

A You are not required to change your password. You can access your quarantine directly from the quarantine notifications you will receive each day. If you do decide to change your password, it is recommended to use a password not associated with your Network ID or email password.

Q I have tried my username and password but they don't seem to work, what should I do?

A If you wait until the next delivery of your SpamEject Spam Firewall alert, you can click on the link at the bottom of the message, and be taken directly into your quarantine. If that doesn't work, just type in your email account in the “Username” field and click on “Create New Password” A message will be sent to your email account.

Q When I first attempted to check the quarantine list, I didn't have to enter any username or password. Now I do. What should I do?

A Your quarantine is currently empty. As soon as you receive another spam message, you will get a notification from the SpamEject Spam Firewall service. Click on the link at the bottom of the email to take you into your quarantine.

Q I've forgotten my password to get into my quarantine. Can I get it reset?

A The easiest way to access your quarantine is to use the link at the bottom of one of the messages that says “click here.”

Be advised that the SpamEject Spam Firewall service uses its own accounts and it is not tied to any of our current authentication systems. We do not recommend that you use the same password that you use for your Network ID or email account.

Q What is the “Whitelist” button on the quarantine INBOX?

A “Whitelisting” will allow future emails from a particular sender to be delivered to your INBOX, regardless of the content of the message. The next time the SpamEject Spam Firewall service encounters that sender, the email will not be quarantined.

Usage:

  1. A newsletter that you receive typically scores high enough to “look like” spam to the filter and is routinely quarantined.
  2. You have a partner, contact or associate that you need to guarantee the delivery of their messages, for instance, you receive legal notices that must be delivered.

In each case you “Whitelist” the sender and the SpamEject Spam Firewall service will faithfully deliver the messages.

Q Does the SpamEject Spam Firewall service allow us to “blacklist” anyone?

A “Blacklisting” will cause future emails from a particular sender to be blocked from delivery to your INBOX, regardless of the content of the message. To “Blacklist” a sender, from within your SpamEject Spam Firewall quarantine, click on your “Preferences” tab, then click “ Whitelist/Blacklist.” Under the heading “Blocked Email Addresses and Domains,” type in the address you wish to block, then click the “Add” button. Blocked email addresses are NOT delivered to your quarantine or your INBOX.

Q How do I add spam that is getting past the SpamEject Spam Firewall spam filter?

A You can “Blacklist” a specific sender, but because most spam senders change the sender information, it is best to wait a day or two until the SpamEject Spam Firewall service “learns” that it is spam and quarantines it accordingly.

Q If I add an address to the “blacklist” in my preferences, what happens to mail from that address? Does it just disappear without delivery or notice OR does it get sent to quarantine where it can be looked at and discarded periodically?

A “Blacklisting” completely blocks the sender and no notification is sent to the sender or intended recipient.

Q Are there global “Blacklists” used by the SpamEject Spam Firewall service?

A Yes, but only the most egregious sites are blocked by the SpamEject Spam Firewall service. Click on the following link for a complete list of “ Common External Blacklists .”

Q My “whitelist” is not working properly. What could I have done wrong?

A Some list mailers use serialized addresses when sending messages. When you try to “whitelist/blacklist” an address and it doesn't seem to be working properly you can do the following:

To “whitelist” a domain:

Inside the SpamEject Spam Firewall quarantine, click on “Preferences,” then choose “Whitelist/Blacklist.” In the textbox for allowed addresses enter: domain.com then click “Add.”

Clean out the other entries that have to do with the domain you just entered.

Here are some examples of serialized addresses:

  • Port_Alert.ue.d35820.139458776.ixsl.net
  • Dairy_Alert.ue.934787.x40687577@ixsl.net
  • Drovers_Alert.ue.g35385.140295192@ixsl.net

Q My “blacklist” is not working properly. What could I have done wrong?

A Some list mailers use serialized addresses when sending messages. When you try to “whitelist/blacklist” an address and it doesn't seem to be working properly you can do the following:

To “Blacklist” a domain:

Inside the SpamEject Spam Firewall quarantine, click on “Preferences,” then choose “Whitelist/Blacklist.” In the textbox for denied addresses enter: “baddomain.com” of the sending domain that you want to block, then click “Add.”

Q I accidentally clicked “deliver” instead of “delete” in my quarantine. What happens?

A No problem. Future email will continue to get scanned. And if you accidentally click “Whitelist,” you can go into your “Preferences” and click on “Whitelist/Blacklist” then delete all the “Whitelist” entries that got there accidentally.

Q I have over 4 pages of quarantined messages. Do I have to delete them, one at a time?

A No. Next to the “Date” column heading is a checkbox that will check all the messages on the viewable page. You can then select “Deliver,” “Whitelist” or “Delete.” If you have multiple pages of spam, you will need to click this checkbox on each page of your quarantine to select all items for your chosen action.

Q I will be out for one week. Do you mind if I don't update my quarantine until I get back?

A This should not present a problem but please note: there is an 8MB limit to the total size of your messages in your quarantine. This is about 1,000 email messages, depending on the size of each message. When your quarantine has reached this limit, the oldest spam will be removed, and is NOT recoverable. Plan accordingly.

You can decide to “opt out” of the SpamEject Spam Firewall spam filtering service inside your quarantine. Click on “Preferences” then choose “Quarantine Enable/Disable.” Next to “Enable Quarantine,” click on the radio button in front of “No.” If “no” is selected, messages that would ordinarily be quarantined will be delivered to your INBOX with “[QURA]” in the subject line. When you return from your vacation, you can opt back into the SpamEject Spam Firewall spam filtering service in the same manner.

Q What do I do with spam that makes it through? What process do I undergo to have the SpamEject Spam Firewall service “learn” that a given message is spam?

A The SpamEject Spam Firewall service auto-updates spam definitions on a regular basis, working much like virus definitions. You may see some spam get through for a day or two before new definitions are learned by the SpamEject Spam Firewall service.

There will always be some messages that will get through the spam filter. We have tuned the SpamEject Spam Firewall to catch as many as possible. You can continue to use filters in your email client to put these messages in the “trash.”

Q I'm concerned that I am receiving some very offensive email. Is there any end in sight?

A The SpamEject Spam Firewall service has been our best defense so far, but even it won't be 100%. It looks like the desired solution for the University will be a quarantining situation and not one where IT Services “blocks” any mail. It is your choice to determine whether or not you want to sift through the quarantine and look for any good email.

For many, the SpamEject Spam Firewall service catches only messages that should have been caught, but because of the heterogeneous nature of email, we cannot make the spam filtering service more stringent. It would risk catching too many good messages for other folks.

Q My last batch of SpamEject Spam Firewall messages were all spam. I selected all the messages, and clicked “deliver” instead of “delete.” Not only did I have those messages delivered, but now it thinks that they aren't spam. What should I do?

A You will need to delete those messages yourself, but your actions will not affect the Beysian method of spam categorization used by the SpamEject Spam Firewall service to recognize spam.

Q How does the SpamEject Spam Firewall service “score” my email and determine whether it is spam or not?

A The SpamEject Spam Firewall score appears in the Header information of the email, not in the Subject line. Our current scoring goes like this:

0 – 5.1 Not Likely to be Spam ---> Delivered
> 5.1 Probably Spam ---> Quarantined

Here is a sample of the SpamEject Spam Firewall header information:

X-SpamEject Spam Firewall-Spam-Score: -4.3
X-SpamEject Spam Firewall-Spam-Status: No, SCORE=-4.3 using global scores of TAG_LEVEL=5.1 QUARANTINE_LEVEL=5.0 KILL_LEVEL=1000.0 tests=BAYES_00, HTML_60_70, HTML_FONT_BIG, HTML_MESSAGE, NO_REAL_NAME
X-SpamEject Spam Firewall-Spam-Report: Code version 2.61 Rule breakdown below

pts
rule name
description
0.2
NO_REAL_NAME From: does not include a real name
0.1
HTML_60_70  BODY: Message is 60% to 70% HTML
0.1
HTML_MESSAGE BODY: HTML included in message
0.3
HTML_FONT_BIG BODY: HTML has a big font
-4.9
BAYES_00 BODY: Bayesian spam probability is 0 to 1%
    [score: 0.0000]

Q Do I need any local filtering, in addition to the SpamEject Spam Firewall? 

A No, you do not need local filtering. But you may need to modify your filters to allow the SpamEject Spam Firewall spam notification to work properly.

Q I've deleted something from my quarantine by mistake. Can you recover it?

A No. Once you delete the item, it's gone. You may need to contact the sender.

Q Will I have deleted all the email that accummulated in my absence by deleting the most recent SpamEject Spam Firewall email?

A Deleting the email quarantine notice will NOT delete the email that is in your quarantine. You must click on the link at the bottom of the email message and enter your quarantine in order to delete your spam.

Q I have been away from the office. Do I have to open the SpamEject Spam Firewall email from each day that I was gone, or are the messages cummulative so that I can view my quarantine in the most recent SpamEject Spam Firewall email?

A Yes, they are cumulative. You can select the link at the bottom of any message, where it says “Click Here,” and be taken into your full quarantine.

Q Would it be possible in the quarantine email to have it immediately jump to the web page when opened?

A You will need to click on the link inside the email message.

Q The “delete” link for my two spam messages is not active, so I am not able to delete them.

A Try the “click here” link at the bottom of the SpamEject Spam Firewall email message to delete the spam items from within the quarantine.

Q In my SpamEject Spam Firewall quarantine, is there a way to view an email before deleting it?

A You may have noticed that when your mouse scrolls over messages they highlight with a dark grey bar. Just click once on the “subject,” “date” or “from” fields and a preview window will open. This window will show you the header information and the first 5,000 bytes of the message in Plain Text format.

Q I just spent a long time deleting a large amount of messages and now they're all back. I don't want any of them. What am I doing wrong?

A The notification must have been generated around the time you were working on your quarantine. Check again, and those items should not appear.

Q I am receiving very strange emails. They are messages that are returned undeliverable, yet I haven't sent anything out to the particular addresses. Please advise.

A You should delete these items. They may contain viruses.

Q How does the SpamEject Spam Firewall handle emails that contain viruses?

A The SpamEject Spam Firewall spam filtering service provides virus checking. If identified as containing a virus, the SpamEject Spam Firewall service blocks delivery of the email without notice to the sender or the intended recipient. It is NOT quarantined.

Q How does the SpamEject Spam Firewall service handle attachments?

A The SpamEject Spam Firewall scans attachments and handles them as follows:

  • If it contains a virus, the email is blocked from delivery.
  • If it is an .exe that is NOT a virus, the email will be quarantined.

If you want to be sure an intended recipient receives your attachment, it is best to use software to zip or tar the file(s), or place the item where it can be file shared.

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