Campus to eliminate spam

The university will introduce a new spam-filtering software known as SpamAssassin today

By JACKIE WOMACK

Crooks ‘phishing’ in the Fresno State e-mail user pool may have to move to another pond once the university’s new spam filter, SpamAssassin, debuts today.

“[The spam filter] isn’t being deployed specifically against phishing, but it will probably cut down a lot,” said James Michael, associate director of operating systems services for the university.

Phishing is the new electronic form of an old criminal ploy where the crooks pose as a bank or some other company and try to get an individual’s personal information, Michael said.

The spam filter will be a welcome change for junior Genevieve Baumhefner.

“I have a big problem with junk e-mail,” she said. “It’s unbelievable how much I get every day. I get about 100 junk e-mails every day.”

Baumhefner said she’s received ‘phishing’ e-mails before but that she doesn’t bother to open any e-mail from unknown senders.

Michael said that in the past few months, phishing has “begun to be really visible.”

“You’re seeing e-mails that are tailored to look as though they’re from companies you’d expect to be doing business with, like PayPal and eBay,” he said.

He said he hadn’t received any reports from people who had been fooled by the e-mails.

“Of course, you never know,” Michael said. “I suppose if it had happened, you might be a little reluctant to tell somebody.”

There are a few clues that can tip people off to a phish e-mail.

“The first thing, it seems like an unusual request,” he said. “It’s unsolicited. You didn’t ask to have this transaction take place. Anything about that might seem odd.”

Another tip is for people to check e-mail headers. Michael said the address in the message of the sender usually provides a clue. If it’s a domain that doesn’t seem like one a company would be using, it’s probably a phish e-mail.

According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group (www.antiphishing.org), another way to spot a fake e-mail is if it includes alarming or exciting news for the receiver the phishers are trying to get people to react and send information before they think it through.

“The new spam filter will automatically block e-mails from domains that send a lot of spam,” Michael said.

History major Gabriel Halls said he gets phish e-mails.

“I get a lot of the Washington Mutual e-mails,” he said, referring to fake bank e-mails. “Those are the worst. I also get Citibank and Huntington bank e-mails.”

Halls said he had no idea how his e-mail address got out there. Phishers and other spammers get people’s e-mail addresses either through sites where people have left their addresses voluntarily or through virus and worm attacks, Michael said.

Some of the companies whose names phishers used have responded by offering to check any e-mails sent with their name, he said.

The new spam filter, unless users decide to opt out, will be applied to all Fresno State accounts, Michael said.

For graduate student Elizabeth Evans, the change can’t come soon enough.

“Eighty-five percent of the stuff in my e-mail is junk,” she said. “Usually, I just delete it, but I shouldn’t have to.”