eHelpUnfortunately, there is no method that can effectively stop all spam while at the same time allowing all legitimate email to pass through. However, you can help reduce the amount of incoming spam by utilizing Cal Poly Pomona's spam service.
It may be useful to acquire two different email addresses. Often times when you post or enter your email address online (purchasing various items, signing up for a free service, etc), that email address is typically a good target for spam. Consequently, you could use your second email address for such uses and share your primary email address with only business and/or personal contacts.
Also, please note that many of the university community's email addresses are listed on our many web pages. So, a spam "farmer" may find our email addresses easier than in a private corporation. The update of the email gateways in early 2007 reduced much of the spam. However, spam will never be completely eliminated anywhere.
Take caution when posting in Usenet newsgroups, filling out insecure forms on the web, or posting your email address on websites. Verify the security policy of the website to ensure that it does not share your email address with other companies.
Do not respond to spam unless you know it is from a legitimate company. Never download attachments from people you do not know and trust. Attachments may contain viruses. Do not attempt to remove or unsubscribe yourself from the spam mailing lists. In almost every case, it does not work and simply verifies that you have a valid email address so you can receive more spam.
Do not contribute by forwarding spam to others, such as chain letters. Do not fight spam with more spam. Always be cautious of spam containing warnings or are from someone you do not know requesting help. It is usually a hoax. Never forward hoaxes.
This page was last updated on April 5, 2007.
