Introduction to Spam Control

UTS has implemented spam control on the UTS mail server, which prevents the most obvious spam from being delivered to your mailbox. This level of filtering is very cautious - some junk mail may still be delivered.

Staff and students who receive large amounts of junk mail may wish to use a more aggressive filtering service; To use this service click here.

How does it work?

Each message is scanned and suspected spam is tagged. These tags are then used to filter each message, both at the mail server and at your mail account.

Spam Identification: The software used to identify spam (junk mail) uses a large range of tests to determine whether a particular email is considered junk. Each test has an associated score and each message will usually match many tests. The total score is then calculated and this score can then be used to filter messages.

Message Filtering (University-wide): Any message that scores too highly will be considered to be spam and will be deleted immediately. Messages that do not look like spam will be passed to the mail server for delivery to your mailbox.

Mailbox Filtering (at your mailbox): You have the option to filter spam at your mailbox. These messages will be filtered into a server-side folder, Junk, or put directly into the Trash folder.

Note: All mail stored on the mail server will count towards your mailbox quota. If you choose to file messages to a Junk folder you have to inspect and remove these messages manually.

If you would like to use personalised spam control, please click here.

Filtering Levels

No Filtering:

Applies no personal filtering to your mailbox. Mail filtering will still occur at the mail server, protecting your mailbox from the most obvious spam.

Cautious Filtering:

Messages which have been assigned a high score but have not been filtered at the mail server level will be filtered from your mailbox.

Aggressive Filtering:

Messages which have some spam-like qualities will be filtered from your mailbox.

Very Aggressive Filtering:

This is the strictest level of filtering available. Messages which have been assigned a low score will be filtered from your mailbox.

Glossary

Spam / junk mail:

Email messages sent without the recipient's prior permission. These messages are often offensive and waste valuable resources as people spend their time deleting these messages.

Mailbox:

A location on the mail server where a particular user's mail is delivered and stored. Also known as an Inbox.