Fwd: Anti-spam Pilot Test: Employee & Student Volunteers Wanted!

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> Resent-From: all-students@uaa.alaska.edu
> From: "Rich Whitney" <rich.whitney@uaa.alaska.edu>
> Date: 1 April 2004 12:24:06 GMT-09:00
> To: <uaa-community-dyn@uaa.alaska.edu>, <all-students@uaa.alaska.edu>
> Subject: Anti-spam Pilot Test: Employee & Student Volunteers Wanted!
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> Thread-Topic: Anti-spam Pilot Test: Employee & Student Volunteers=20
> Wanted!
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> Over the past two years UAA has witnessed an unprecedented increase in=20=

> receipt of unwanted email by university employees and students.=A0 In=20=

> this, we are no different from other corporate organizations or=20
> individual Internet users in general.=A0 The problem is very serious.=A0=
=20
> Unwanted or offensive email carries with it:=A0 (a) loss of user=20
> productivity associated with weeding out and otherwise dealing with=20
> junk mail, (b) potential for infection by a myriad of potential worms=20=

> and viruses, and (c) impact on inbound mail gateways having to process=20=

> unwanted messages.=A0
>
> =A0
>
> IT Services has worked within our limited existing resources to=20
> address this and other security issues over the past year.=A0 A year=20=

> ago, we implemented our CASE firewall environment which permits=20
> virus/worm scanning of all inbound email to our Sentinel message=20
> gateway.=A0 This has significantly reduced the transmission of email=20=

> with virus/worm payloads from sources outside of UAA to recipients=20
> using =93@uaa.alaska.edu=94 email accounts.=A0 However, it has not =
addressed=20
> any form of content filtering or what many today refer to as anti-spam=20=

> screening.=A0 Today, we routinely see daily inbound email traffic=20
> ranging from 50,000 over 100,000 messages.=A0 While not having =
specific=20
> tools to analyze inbound messages we believe based on industry=20
> experience that up to 35-40% of this message traffic may in fact be=20
> spam.=A0 I have received numerous calls and emails from members of the=20=

> university community over the past two years asking for IT Services to=20=

> provide relief for this problem.
>
> =A0
>
> Our engineers have identified a range of potential solutions for this=20=

> problem.=A0 Our difficulty in implementing any one solution has been a=20=

> lack of funding.=A0 Anti-spam technology varies widely in cost and is=20=

> typically based upon the number of =91mailboxes=92 that a mail gateway=20=

> supports.=A0 Here at UAA, we have estimated that to implement an=20
> Anti-spam solution that it would cost UAA between $35,000 - $50,000=20
> annually in software licensing and maintenance.=A0 In the last 30 =
days,=20
> I have asked our engineers to make a final recommendation for an=20
> Anti-spam technical solution and to orchestrate a field trial of that=20=

> solution.=A0 We are now ready to begin this trial.
>
> =A0
>
> Beginning on April 9 and continuing through May 31 we would like to=20
> allow 100 faculty, staff and students to use a new Anti-spam system=20
> that we are evaluating from MailFrontier.=A0 We=92re looking for a=20
> representative field test group who are willing to participate in a=20
> brief 1-hour user training session, actively use the MailFrontier=20
> system and provide us with feedback at the conclusion of the field=20
> test.=A0 MailFrontier is very easy to use and requires no technical=20
> background of any kind.=A0 Multiple training sessions will be set up=20=

> during the week of April 9 with times throughout the day each day to=20=

> accommodate busy schedules.=A0 No changes to your existing mail =
accounts=20
> are required to participate.=A0 The system fits very transparently =
into=20
> our existing Sentinel messaging environment.
>
> =A0
>
> If you are interested in being a field test participant please contact=20=

> our IT Call Center at 786-4646 or 877-633-3888 and request to=20
> participate.=A0 You will be asked for your name and University ID =
(e.g.,=20
> anraw=85).=A0 When we have a representative group of 100 faculty, =
staff=20
> and student volunteers identified I will send out a follow-up message=20=

> to the university community ending the enrollment period and selected=20=

> volunteers will receive a second email confirming their eligibility to=20=

> participate.=A0 Then, selected volunteers will simply call the IT Call=20=

> Center back and enroll in the training session that fits their=20
> schedules during the week of April 9 and April 16.
>
> =A0
>
> Following this field test each participant will receive a brief=20
> evaluation via email which we ask they complete and return.=A0 =
Presuming=20
> a positive evaluation by users and our engineers, I will be pursuing=20=

> funding for this system with the hope that an Anti-spam solution will=20=

> be in production well in advance of Fall semester.=A0 Thanks for your=20=

> interest and support in this process.
>
> =A0
>
> Rich Whitney.
>
> =A0
>
> =A0
>
> ________________________________________________
>
> Richard A. Whitney
>
> CIO/Associate Vice Provost for Information Technology
>
> UAA Information Technology Services
>
> University of Alaska - Anchorage
>
> 907-786-4754 (voice)=A0=A0=A0=A0 907-786-1160 (fax)
>
> rich.whitney@uaa.alaska.edu=A0=A0=A0=A0 www.uaa.alaska.edu
>
> =A0
>
> =A0
>

$35-$50M/year on "software licensing & maintenance".... has anyone who=20=

works at UAA talked to them about a FOSS solution to spam=20
filtering????????

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Received on Sun Apr 4 14:39:21 2004