Faculty and Staff

Spam Overview

Last updated September 14, 2009 12:54:44 PM PDT
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Find out what UCSD does and what you can do to manage spam (unsolicited e-mail) in your UCSD e-mailaccount.

Spam is unsolicited bulk e-mail

Spam includes commercial solicitations, advertisements, chain letters, pyramid schemes, and fraudulent offers.

UCSD is attacking spam

UCSD uses many blocking techniques, and 90 percent of the spam sent to UCSD e-mail addresses is blocked as it arrives on campus. Messages that get through the campus border are evaluated and scored for spam potential. This score is then "tagged" into the header portion of your e-mail messages so that your e-mail software can further filter and remove spam. See below for how to set up this personal spam filter.

What you can do

  • Don't reply to spam messages. Replying confirms that your e-mail is valid, and will probably result in you receiving more spam.
  • Don't spread spam. Remember, sending chain letters is against university policy.
  • Don't put your e-mail address on Web pages. E-mail collection programs (scrapers) harvest addresses from Web sites.
  • Don't hesitate to use the delete key. The most reliable way to rid yourself of spam is to delete it.

It is not necessary to change your e-mail address. Spammers are incredibly sophisticated about harvesting addresses from infected machines. It only takes about 2 weeks for your spam load to return to the previous level.

Set up personal spam filters

For more informaiton, contact the ACT Help Desk, (858) 534-1853.

Note: This page has a friendly link that's easy to remember: http://blink.ucsd.edu/go/spam

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See Also

SpamAssassin Web site

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