Spam Management at UVM

UVM's Software Solution

UVM has implemented PureMessage spam detection and management software as a strategy for coping with the ever increasing volume of spam most of us have experienced.  

CIT tested this software for over a month and found it generally helpful.  No action is required by any UVM email user.  An optional visit to a spam management web page turns on additional, automated features.

Implementation Date

PureMessage was implemented June 26, 2003

How is PureMessage Implemented at UVM?

PureMessage scans incoming email, tagging the subject lines of messages that may be spam.  See below for more details on how spam is tagged.  A web page lets each of us specify how spam is handled.  No messages are automatically filtered, filed, or deleted.

How do I use it?

Messages with a high probability of being spam  have a modified Subject line.  The Subject begins with one of:

[SPAM?: #]     50-59  probablility rating of being spam
[SPAM?: ##]    60-69                   "
[SPAM?: ###]   70-79                   "
[SPAM?: ####]  80-89                   "
[SPAM?: #####] 90-100                  "

 ... The number of #'s depends on the calculated spam rating, with each # representing a ten-point jump, starting with 50-59 .  In other words, if you see ####, that means the spam probability rating is at least 80.

For example:

                 Subject: [SPAM?:####] Auction price records - Records de ventes

How Can I Customize the Spam Filter?

The default action is to do nothing, other than tag the subject line.  People can then do what they want with the tagged information on each message.  Ignore it, file it in a designated mailbox, delete it, or whatever.

A user-friendly Web interface with filters for managing spam and other email is in place.  To access this interface, go to http://webmail.uvm.edu/ and click on "Set up UVM e-mail filtering."  Here click on  "Edit Your Spam Filter Settings."  Then you can choose either:

   Edit Your Spam Probability Tolerance
 Edit Your Spam White-List

The "whitelist" feature in the spam control web page, lets you save whitelist messages in your inbox, and filter other messages into a folder if you desire.   

What are the Rules that PureMessage Uses to Identify Spam Probability?

There are almost 1,000 rules....  It looks for common strings/urls, it uses on-line databases for spam reported fingerprints, and open relay domains.  Lots of rules, each with a weight that adds to the overall score.  More details are available on the PureMessage website.

Why was PureMessage selected?

• Has the best balance of features and price

• Highly extendable

• PureMessage works with all the email systems at UVM. No particular email server or client is required. 

• Company is very responsive to feature enhancements

• Many of our peer institutions are deploying it (Berkeley, Cornell, ...)

Spam folders will no longer be backed up

Thousands of UVM people are keeping spam out of their email inboxes by using UVM's spam filtering service (see WebMail and look at the options in the left panel). This filtering service does not discard the spam but stores it in a spam folder which is backed up by our data protection system, along with all other email folders, to guard against loss.

Recently Computing and Information Technology (CIT) has noticed that these spam folders have grown quite large and are impacting the performance of the backup system.

Since messages in the spam folders are generally of low value, and are automatically deleted after 120 days, CIT will discontinue spam folder backups beginning June 7, 2006.

If you have valuable messages saved in your spam folder, you might want to consider moving them to another folder. To begin managing spam or to learn more please see UVM's self-service email management pages Email.

Who do I Contact With Questions/comments/concerns?