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IT&S > guides > new spam-blocking service

Barracuda and Quarantine

Anti-Spam News
LIS has strengthened the College's existing anti-spam protection as part of a planned upgrade to Wheaton's central anti-virus protection. LIS system administrators implemented a new anti-spam filter on July 20, 2005 to stem the flow of inbound spam. This spam filter takes one of three actions with each incoming message.

  1. If the message is known to be spam, it is blocked entirely and is not passed on to the recipient.
  2. If there is a high probability that the message is spam, it is quarantined on the server for further review by the recipient.
  3. If the message is not spam, it is delivered to the recipient's Inbox.

More detail about the four actions follows.

1. If the message is known to be spam, it is blocked entirely and is not passed on to the recipient.

This new filter works with our established anti-spam practices. The filter references an authoritative list of known spammers from around the world and is updated every hour. We have a high degree of confidence that messages are blocked only when they pose a real threat to our network's security. Should you have a question about a message that you believe was blocked incorrectly, LIS system administrators will be happy to work with you. Contact them at cgpro_admins@wheatonma.edu.

2. If there is a high probability that the message is spam, it is quarantined on the server for further review by the recipient.

Messages that get marked as having a high probability of being spam will be placed in "quarantine" and not appear in your Inbox. If a message intended for you is quarantined, you will receive an email message with a link that allows you to view your quarantined messages. For example:

From: Wheaton College Barracuda Spam Firewall
To: userid@wheatonma.edu
Subject: User Quarantine Account Information
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005 22:02:56 -0400 (EDT)

Welcome to the Wheaton College Barracuda Spam Firewall. This
message contains the information you will need to access your Spam
Quarantine and Preferences.

Your account has been set to the following username and password:

Username: userid@wheatonma.edu
Password: xxxxxxxxxx

Access your Spam Quarantine directly using the following link:
(link would appear here)


Please note: You may receive more than one email with quarantine account information like that above from the Spam Firewall. Each unique email address is handled separately, even when the addresses belong to the same person. For example, userid@wheatonma.edu is considered different from userid@wheatoncollege.edu.

Training the Spam Firewall

It is in your best interests to use the Quarantine to help train the Spam Firewall. We recommend that you take the time to classify each quarantined message as either spam or not spam. With every message that you classify, you will be training the Firewall to more accurately handle mail in the future. If there is a message in the quarantine that is legitimate, you should first check off the message and have it delivered, then select the button Classify as Not Spam.

After you have classified 200 messages as spam and 200 as not spam, the filter will have enough information to more intelligently classify messages that might usually end up within the quarantine. This may seem like extra work but, as you train the filter, it will mean less and less spam messages will reach your Inbox in the long run.

While we do not recommend this action, if you do not want your messages subjected to spam filtering in any way, while you are logged into your quarantine select the PREFERENCES tab, then select Spam Settings, and next to Enable Spam Filtering select the No button.

3. If the message is not spam, it is delivered to the recipient's Inbox.

Other Notes

You have the option within the quarantine interface to set up Whitelists and Blacklists (located under PREFERENCES --> Whilelist/Blacklist).

  • If you want to block any messages from coming to you from a certain email address, type the address into the Blocked Email Addresses and Domains --> Email Address field and select Add.
  • If you want to make sure an email sender does not get blocked please add their address to the section labeled Allowed Email Addresses and Domains.

This filter will learn about your preferences over time. We recommend that you teach it.

  • We strongly suggest that you shut off any junk mail rules you may have created within Webmail or, if you use Eudora, please shut off the Junk Mail option under Tools --> Options --> Junk Mail and uncheck the option marked Automatically place junk in Junk Mail folder.
  • More information about the Barracuda filter is available here.

If you have questions or concerns about LIS anti-spam practice, please send an email message to cgpro_admins@wheatonma.edu or call the LIS Technical Services Staff at x3900.