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Current Alert
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Future AlertLast updated on April 11, 2008 at 2:02PM
On April 17, 2008, during the regularly scheduled maintenance window
(5:00 - 7:00 a.m.), Information Technology Services (ITS) will begin
blocking incoming mail (with the recipient address format as xyz123@psu.edu, for example) from Internet addresses listed by The Spamhaus Project - http://www.spamhaus.org/. The Spamhaus Project is an organization that provides dependable real-time anti-spam protection for Internet networks, and works with law enforcement to identify and pursue spammers worldwide. Using the Spamhaus lists marks one of several continuing efforts being made at Penn State to combat the amount of unwanted, unsolicited e-mail, commonly known as spam.
Penn State will block addresses that are recognized by all three
Spamhaus lists: the Spamhaus Block List (SBL), the Exploits Block List
(XBL), and the Policy Block List (PBL):
*SBL: a current database of Internet addresses of verified spam sources
and spam operations (including spammers, spam gangs and spam support
services)
*XBL: a current database of Internet addresses of hijacked computers
that have been infected by illegal third-party exploits (such as
worms/viruses with built-in spam engines, and other types of
trojan-horse exploits)
*PBL is a list of end-user Internet address ranges which should not be
delivering unauthenticated outgoing e-mail to any Internet mail server
except those provided for specifically by an Internet Service Provider
(ISP) for that customer's use. The PBL helps networks enforce their
Acceptable Use Policy for dynamic and other Internet address ranges not
used for transferring e-mail.
It is expected that users of Penn State's e-mail services should not
experience problems; however, it is possible that problems could be
experienced if one is using a third-party Internet Service Provider (ISP) to check Penn State e-mail. If this is the case, users should contact their respective ISPs to resolve the issue. Overall, it is expected that users should see a significant decrease in the amount of spam.
In addition to the anti-spam methods employed by the University, users are strongly encouraged to configure their respective e-mail clients for the Penn State spam filter, X-PSU-Spam-Flag. Instructions are found in the ITS Knowledge Base at http://kb.its.psu.edu/psu-all/hd/spamflag.
For more information about blocking addresses to combat spam, please also visit http://kb.its.psu.edu/psu-all/hd/IP-address-blocking-determination/. General inquiries and requests for assistance should be directed to ITS Help Desk staff at helpdesk@psu.edu.
For more information, please contact ITS Help Desk staff (helpdesk@psu.edu).
ITS Daily Maintenance Window: 5:00 - 7:00 a.m. EST/EDT
