The War Against Spam

I feel like far too often when I come in to work and open my Outlook there are messages for male enhancement pills, spam in Russian, or other SPAM in my inbox.  I found myself wondering how this happens when we have RedCondor to filter our e-mail.

Yesterday I spent some time working with Red Condor to figure out why we have so much spam reaching our mailboxes and what steps we can take to reduce it.  We examined the configuration of RedCondor's filter, how it interfaces with our mail system, and the configuration of our mail server (MS Exchange 2003).  The result of our investigations was that there is a need to make changes in each of the following areas:

1. RedCondor Filter Settings
2. Connection settings between RedCondor and our Exchange server
3. Exchange server Settings

It was discovered that it is possible to send an e-mail directly to the Exchange server, bypassing the RedCondor filter.  This is one of the ways spam enters the district.  To correct this issue, on the evening of Friday August 13th, I will be reconfiguring the district's Exchange system to force all incoming e-mail (SMTP) through RedCondor.  Unfortunately, this change will have side effects.

The security change will block all other traffic to the Exchange SMTP server.   This will cause iPhones, BlackBerries (except district issued BlackBerries), and mail programs that are used off campus to no longer be able to send mail.  (FYI: Outlook Web Access will not be affected.)  The good news is, with a minor change to the configuration of your iPhone or other affected system, you will be back to sending and receiving e-mail.

If you believe that you will be affected by the changes to our e-mail system, please contact me so we can ensure that you are prepared for next Friday's upgrades.

I am excited to see the impact that these changes will have on our volume of Spam received.  I expect that it will greatly reduce the amount of spam that reaches a user's e-mail box.  And who doesn't want less Spam?