Unsolicited Commercial E-mail

I. What is it?

Also known as spam or junk mail, unsolicited commercial e-mail is e-mail that you did not request. Most spam is unsolicited commercial advertising, often for dubious products, get-rich-quick schemes, and illegitimate offers. A flooding of spam may result in a denial of service attack that can disrupt network traffic and prevent legitimate users from accessing a service.

II. What can I do to prevent spam?

Unfortunately there is no effective method to stop all spam while also allowing all legitimate e-mail through. However, you can help reduce the amount of incoming spam.

o Take caution when posting in Usenet newsgroups, filling out insecure forms on the Web, or posting your e-mail address on websites. Verify the security policy of the website to ensure that it does not share your e-mail address with other companies.

o Do not respond to spam unless you know it is from a legitimate company.

o Never download attachments from people you do not know and trust. Attachments may contain viruses.

o Do not attempt to remove or unsubscribe yourself from the mailing list. In almost every case, it does not work and it simply verifies that you have a valid e-mail address so you can receive more spam.

o Consider creating an alternate e-mail address from a free e-mail service if you need to use a potential source of spam. Then your primary Cal Poly account will be safe.

o Use any custom filtering features provided by your e-mail client, or consider using third party e-mail filtering software.

o Do not contribute by forwarding spam to others, such as chain letters. Do not fight spam with more spam.

o 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.

I. Who to contact

If you are experiencing problems with spam or have any questions contact the Help Desk at (909) 869-6776 or visit us at http://www.csupomona.edu/~helpdesk.