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More than 90% of the email messages sent to campus are spam. OU IT blocks about 85% of all messages as spam. However, we cannot block all spam at a campus-wide level without increasing “false positives” – legitimate messages that get tagged as spam. OU IT has implemented an email security gateway – Proofpoint – to help improve email security and protect users from spam and phishing emails.
The Proofpoint Messaging Security Gateway is an application that provides spam, virus, and content policy infrastructure to OU’s email applications. All incoming email is inspected by the Proofpoint Messaging Security Gateway as soon as it arrives at our campus. Messages that contain a virus, spam, or inappropriate content are sent to a Quarantine area.
Through spam.ou.edu, all users have access to a personal Proofpoint online digest to view emails that have been filtered and quarantined as suspected spam messages.
To access your online digest, go to spam.ou.edu and sign in with your OUNet ID and password.
After you log in to spam.ou.edu, you can:
- Release the messages from the Quarantine if you would like to receive the messages in your inbox. Select the message check box and click “Release.”
- Add senders to your Safe Senders and Blocked Senders lists. Click Lists on the left side of the window, and then click New to add a Safe Sender to the list. The procedure is the same for your Blocked Senders list.
- Change your Digest preferences. Click Profile on the left side of the window.
Quarantine Tab
SPAM – QUARANTINED FOLDER
When logging in to spam.ou.edu, the page opens by default to the Quarantine Tab with the Spam – Quarantined folder open. A list will be displayed of emails that have been filtered as possible spam and have been quarantined. If a legitimate email message is mistakenly quarantined, you can release it to your Inbox from the online digest.
Check the box next to a message to take further action on the message.
Use the toolbar at the top of the page to choose the action for the message selected.
Find – Search for specific emails in your inbox by Sender (From); Subject; and/or Age (Date).
Release and Allow Sender – Releases the message to your inbox and informs Proofpoint Essentials to create a Whitelist (Allow) rule between the sender and recipient so that mail will not be qualified as Spam from this sender in future.
Not Spam – Report messages that are not spam but are included in the Spam – Quarantined section.
Release – Delivers the email to your inbox.
Options: Drop down menu with the options to:
- Request Digest – Sends a personal digest of emails that have been filtered and sorted into different categories, giving you an opportunity to take action on them.
- Refresh – Updates the list of emails in your Spam – Quarantine folder.
- Delete All – Deletes all emails from your Spam – Quarantine folder.
REPUTATION SERVICE FOLDER
Use the toolbar at the top of the page to choose the action for the message selected.
Find – Search for specific emails in your inbox by Sender (From); Subject; and/or Age (Date).
Release and Allow Sender – Releases the message to your inbox and informs Proofpoint Essentials to create a Whitelist (Allow) rule between the sender and recipient so that mail will not be qualified as Spam from this sender in future.
Release – Delivers the email to your inbox.
Block Sender – Blocks subsequent emails from sender from reaching your inbox and adds the sender to the Blocked Sender’s list.
Delete – Deletes current message from your Reputation Service folder.
Options
- Request Digest – Sends a personal digest of emails that have been filtered and sorted into different categories, giving you an opportunity to take action on them.
- Refresh – Updates the list of emails in your Reputation Service folder.
- Delete All – Delete’s all emails from your Reputation Service folder.
EMAIL FIREWALL FOLDER
Use the toolbar at the top of the page to choose the action for the message selected.
Find – Search for specific emails in your inbox by Sender (From); Subject; and/or Age (Date).
Release and Allow Sender – Releases the message to your inbox and informs Proofpoint Essentials to create a Whitelist (Allow) rule between the sender and recipient so that mail will not be qualified as Spam from this sender in future.
Not Spam – Report messages that are not spam but are included in the Spam – Quarantined section.
Release – Delivers the email to your inbox.
Block Sender – Blocks subsequent emails from sender from reaching your inbox and adds the sender to the Blocked Sender’s list.
Delete – Deletes current message from your Email Firewall folder.
Options
- Request Digest – Sends a personal digest of emails that have been filtered and sorted into different categories, giving you an opportunity to take action on them.
- Refresh – Updates the list of emails in your Reputation Service folder.
AUDIT MESSAGES FOLDER
Use the toolbar at the top of the page to choose the action for the message selected.
Find – Search for specific emails in your inbox by Sender (From); Subject; and/or Age (Date).
Release and Allow Sender – Releases the message to your inbox and informs Proofpoint Essentials to create a Whitelist (Allow) rule between the sender and recipient so that mail will not be qualified as Spam from this sender in future.
Release – Delivers the email to your inbox.
Block Sender – Blocks subsequent emails from sender from reaching your inbox and adds the sender to the Blocked Sender’s list.
Report Spam – Designates the message as spam or phishing email.
Options
- Request Digest – Sends a personal digest of emails that have been filtered and sorted into different categories, giving you an opportunity to take action on them.
- Refresh – Updates the list of emails in your Reputation Service folder.
Lists Tab
Select the Lists Tab at the bottom left of the online digest to view lists of Safe Senders and Blocked Senders.
SAFE SENDERS LIST
The Safe Senders list is simply a list of approved senders of email. When a sender address is included in the Safe Senders list, the Proofpoint Protection Server does not filter the message for spam. Messages will still be filtered for a virus or inappropriate content.
Use the toolbar at the top of the page to choose the action for the sender selected.
New – Specify an email address or Internet domain to add to Safe Senders List.
Edit – Edit an email address or Internet domain that you have already added to the Safe Senders List.
Delete – Delete an email address or Internet domain from the Safe Senders List.
Options
- Request Digest – Sends a personal digest of emails that have been filtered and sorted into different categories, giving you an opportunity to take action on them.
- Refresh – Updates the list of emails in your Reputation Service folder.
BLOCKED SENDERS LIST
A Blocked Senders list contains addresses of people or mailing lists from whom you do not wish to receive “junk” email.
Use the toolbar at the top of the page to choose the action for the sender selected.
New – Specify an email address or Internet domain to add to Blocked Senders List.
Edit – Edit an email address or Internet domain that you have already added to the Blocked Senders List.
Delete – Delete an email address or Internet domain from the Blocked Senders List.
Options
- Request Digest – Sends a personal digest of emails that have been filtered and sorted into different categories, giving you an opportunity to take action on them.
- Refresh – Updates the list of emails in your Reputation Service folder.
Profile Tab
Select the Profile Tab at the bottom left of the online digest to edit the settings for End User Digests that are sent to your email inbox.
SETTINGS
Choose one or both of the following:
- Send digest with new messages in End User Digest – Delivers an End User Digest to your email inbox when new messages are filtered by Proofpoint.
- Send digest even when no messages in End User Digest – Delivers an End User Digest to your email inbox even when no messages have been filtered by Proofpoint.
ACCOUNT
Contains information that is used for administrative purposes and is not editable by the user.