Spam Filtering Trial
Effective November 24, 2003

originally posted on November 10, 2003

In an effort to reduce the amount of unsolicited e-mail, or spam, received by Penn State's e-mail servers, Academic Services and Emerging Technologies (ASET), a unit of Information Technology Services (ITS), will begin an evaluation of a spam filtering system on November 24.

What it Means to You

This spam filtering evaluation allows ITS-operated Penn State e-mail servers to reject spam and minimize the impact to University network and computers. Many "spammers" deliver their spam by using third-party resources without permission. The approach in this evaluation filters e-mail based on its origin rather than its content.

While at first glance this approach seems similar to a Realtime Blackhole List (RTBL), it is not. RTBL is a dynamically updated list of networks which are known to be "friendly" to spammers who use those networks to originate or relay spam. In turn, these networks are then denied access to parts of the Internet. The approach ITS is evaluating will enable Penn State to concentrate specifically on spam without denying other kinds of network traffic.

Recommendations

If you attempt to send e-mail via a third-party ISP through the use of a cable modem, DSL or dial-up, you may receive the following error message:

"Unable to make connection; see http://aset.its.psu.edu/spamfilter.html for information."

If this occurs, it is recommended that you:

• make sure that you're using smtp.psu.edu as your outgoing mail server or designate a different host for the smtp server (your ISP can provide this information), or
• use the Virtual Private Network (VPN), or
• use the authenticated smtp outgoing mail server, authsmtp.psu.edu, or
• check your e-mail before sending e-mail.

If you use authsmtp.psu.edu rather than smtp.psu.edu, you do not need to check mail before sending mail.

Please refer to the links listed below for details and instructions.

Help/Resources

Questions, problem reports or requests for assistance may be directed to the ITS Help Desk at helpdesk@psu.edu.

• Guide to Information Technology @ Penn State Electronic Mail Section
• Virtual Private Network (VPN)
  

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  Please note that all systems are scheduled for daily maintenance between 5:30 and 7:30 a.m. During this time, one or more Internet services may not be available. The ITS systems status page shows the current status of servers.