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IT

IT tutorials

To All Departments and Members of the President-Faculty Mailing List:

Thank you for your messages regarding your experiences during our 3-day test utilizing blacklists to reduce spam and phishing email messages. Thus far, the majority of customers' responses regarding the test have been very positive.

This TEST ENDS at 5:00 p.m. CST on Friday, June 9, 2006.

Please send your comments or observations to ITinput@rice.edu; also use this address to report any delivery problems you may have experienced during this test and we will track the messages for you. Your input and feedback are critical to our analysis of this potential solution for reducing junk mail at Rice.

What was blocked?

Messages from mail servers on at least two outside agencies' blacklists. These blacklists contain the addresses of mail servers that are known to spew spam or phishing messages, are easily hijacked by malicious mail distributors, or are misconfigured and thus can be utilized by spam and phishing entities.

Why now?

The total volume of email messages received at Rice on a daily basis has escalated to over 1 million items per day; 800,000 to 900,000 of these messages are junk mail. This overwhelming quantity of junk mail has slowed delivery of all email, much like 5:00 pm congestion on IH-45 slows all traffic on that interstate. The combination of slower email delivery and the time required to sort and discard junk mail results in lost productivity in all schools, colleges, and offices across the campus.

In addition, a number of people at Rice have fallen prey to scam and phishing email, and this has escalated our efforts to make changes in the way junk mail is accepted, rejected, or tagged in the Rice email system.

Examples of institutions using blacklists to reduce spam and phishing:

• MIT
• Stanford
• Duke
• Institutions in the Texas Medical Center and the University of California system, and many other college, universities, and corporations including Microsoft.

Can I opt out?

YES, email ITinput@rice.edu

Additional information on our use of blacklists can be found at: http://www.rice.edu/it/resources/email/blacklists.html

Thanks again for your response and for your patience during this test.

Carlyn Chatfield
IT Web Coordinator
713-348-4819