issues with spam

[4218]

Hi
Im a long time exetel user and use the exetel webmail to access email via outlook express
All has been fine till lately when I started getting loads of emails offering to enhance various body parts and other services
Using the outlook express blocked senders list is useless as the senders must change (the blocked senders list is hundreds long)
Also the message rules does not have an option to include words in the "from" only words from the message body and if I exclude every word from all the message bodies I wont get any email,s at all
Is there a way filtering via words from the "from" part of the email because Invariably they include the words "enhance or organ etc"
I am relatively ignorant of how all of this works so any assistance would be appreciated
Mike

[stevecJ]

Hi
Im a long time exetel user and use the exetel webmail to access email via outlook express
All has been fine till lately when I started getting loads of emails offering to enhance various body parts and other services
Using the outlook express blocked senders list is useless as the senders must change (the blocked senders list is hundreds long)
Also the message rules does not have an option to include words in the "from" only words from the message body and if I exclude every word from all the message bodies I wont get any email,s at all
Is there a way filtering via words from the "from" part of the email because Invariably they include the words "enhance or organ etc"
I am relatively ignorant of how all of this works so any assistance would be appreciated
Mike

Hi Mike,

You may add a spam filter to your exemail email via the members facilities. However we cannot 100% grantee that all the spam emails will be blocked from the spam filter, as there are new spammers created every day.

Also when you receive new spam, you may forward them to 'spam@exetel.com.au' in order to train our spam filter.

[Dazzled]

The other approach is to get a decent mail client at home with a filter that can learn and accept more varied rules. Probably the most common is Thunderbird. Others include Opera Mail (part of the Opera bowser), and Claws. These are all free downloads, and there are set up guides at http://exewiki.exetel.com.au/index.php? ... tup_Guides.

In the early stages some spam gets through, but there is a button to mark the incoming rubbish as spam. The filters construct their own rules from this, and after a while spam will largely be a thing of the past.

[4218]

Hi guys thank you for your reply
Can you explain this for me
When i look closely at these emails I find that some contain my email addy but others have a "different name @exemail.com.au"
How can this be,how can these be in my inbox at all
Mike

[Dazzled]

Outlook and other clients by default only display the message part of the email - the text that people want to see. The true email text is much longer. Clients have a switch to "display headers" - for Outlook, see http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlo ... 30300.aspx.

If you do this, you will see a field "Envelope-to:" , and I'll bet your address follows.

Underneath all the graphic user interfaces, mail is actually a fairly simple typing job in a terminal or command box, and most of the fields can be falsified, or spoofed. I have often checked my mail without using any sort of mail application. That's how it was in the good old days. A competent spammer will always spoof, but the "Received: from" in the header is instructive, as you can see whoever sent the message to the Exetel mail server. In the case of spam, it is usually some unsuspecting householder with an infected Windows computer.

Unsuspicious users are fond of letting email clients show graphic displays similar to web pages. These are achieved by the message containing HTML browser code. Spammers will often use this to draw over and disguise the true destination of links and buttons and other parts of the display. For example, the fake Australian bank link that is really sending you to an obscure server in Siberia.

[4218]

Dazzled
Thanks for the explanation most of which is going over my head, does it really matter how the spam is arriving it is more about stopping it
Even if I stopped using outlook express to access exetel webmail and go straight to webmail from the exetel site the spam would still be there
I dont want to change my email address as it would be a pain letting all the legitimate users of my email know of this change
Should I consider this a fault of exetel webmail and submitt a ticket
In the meantime I am doing as suggested and forwarding a lot of mail to spam@exetel.com.au I hope it,s getting there i,ve had no response
Is there detailed instructions on adding a filter to webmail
Its becoming farcical
Cheers Mike

[Dazzled]

There's only one way to add a spam filter to webmail, referred to by StevecJ above. In the user facility, go to Manage Services->Email and select the Spam Protection tab. This is a commercial service provided by Cisco Ironport, and costs $2 extra per month. This filter has been running for years and is well trained. It will examine your mail while it is still on the Exetel server.

If you install one of the better email clients I mentioned earlier, you can have the benefit of a spam filter on your downloaded messages for free. It will need a little training, ie for a while it will miss some spam, but if you tell it something is spam, it will construct a rule by itself.

The people who produce and control spam are very competent indeed, and keeping up with them needs software that can adapt, as their techniques keep changing.


PS I should have added: emailing spam notices to Exetel serves to train the Ironport filter. If you don't subscribe to this, it will have no effect for you personally. It's the equivalent of training a Thunderbird etc filter. I recommend you install one of the free systems - I don't see more than one spam in every few months; the rest get trapped. Thanks to an infected correspondent, one of my addresses is a serious spam magnet. You can download the software and install as per the instructions, eg http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/

[4218]

Hi guys
I submitted a fault ticket after much forwarding of spam to exetel and was also advised to add Ironport filter to my account
This seems like a good idea for a couple of bucks a month
Do I have to then do anything to "teach" it ??????
I installed "mailwasher "free but this still means I have to open it before outlook exp to wash mail???
I suspect I may be better to have both for a while and see how it goes before uninstalling mailwasher
What happens if ironport inadvertantly deletes a wanted email is there a tutorial
Mike

[udara]

Do I have to then do anything to "teach" it ??????
Mike

You will have to Forward spam emails to spam@exetel.com.au to train the spam filter

What happens if ironport inadvertantly deletes a wanted email
Mike

if ironport deletes an email , we will not be able to retrieve it , however when add the spam filter on the members area , you have to chose from the following options under Spam Email Filter Configuration


Definite Spam: The action to perform on definite spam, with the value being one of:
--- > No scanning will be performed
--- > Tag with [SPAM] in email subject
--- > Put email into quarantine
--- > Delete the email

Suspect Spam: The action to perform on suspected spam, with the value being on of:
--- > No scanning will be performed
--- > Tag with [SPAM] in email subject
--- > Put email into quarantine
--- > Delete the email

So maybe you can choose "Delete the email" for Definite Spam and "Tag with [SPAM] in email subject" or "Put email into quarantine" for Suspect Spam, this way it is less likely for ironport to delete any wanted emails.

[4218]

Years
Ok I,ll give it a go
Mike

[4218]

UDARA
do you think using the "put email into quarantine" in both cases would be a safe way to go to start with
Then how would I access this to view emails to check on them
Can I then change it to "delete definit spam " at a later date
Mike

[EroshanJ]

Hi Mike,

do you think using the "put email into quarantine" in both cases would be a safe way to go to start with

Yes, in this case you can monitor spam emails. Later you can decide whether to delete them on not.

Then how would I access this to view emails to check on them

In order to access quarantine emails, you have to login to Exetel members facility >> Manage Services >> Email and click on 'Quarantine' button.

Can I then change it to "delete definit spam " at a later date

Yes, you can change the setting later on.

[4218]

EROSHANJ
explained like a true profesional thank you
Mike