From the KnowledgeBase
Proofpoint: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Solution:
Update: OIT relies on Proofpoint for the latest generation of e-mail security, and has recently upgraded Proofpoint appliances to version 5.5 in order to provide a complete spam protection system for the University. Below find some commonly asked questions regarding the Proofpoint service.
I received an e-mail message from Proofpoint. What is this
message?
You have received a "Spam Digest" report that is automatically generated
from the Proofpoint system. Instead of delivering the messages to your Inbox,
the messages are now being held in a special Quarantine. Once a day at 8
a.m., Monday through Friday, a digest message is sent showing a list of your
new e-mail messages that have arrived from outside of Princeton that appear
to be spam. The report only includes messages added to the Quarantine since
the last report was generated. A message placed in the Quarantine resides
there for 14 days and then is automatically deleted from the Quarantine system.
Do I need to do anything? What do I need to do with the Digest
report?
You do not need to do anything but delete the message after scanning it first
for messages that you might not consider spam. If all the message are spam,
just delete the Digest message. If not, you can take action on the messages
in the Digest using the web links. For example, you can:
- Release: Releases a message from the Quarantine and sends the message to your Inbox. This link allows you to receive the message in your Inbox so you can review the contents of the message.
- Safelist: This link does two things. It release the message to your Inbox and it also adds the e-mail address of the sender to your personal Safe Senders list. Future messages from this sender will not be sent to the Quarantine.
- Not Spam: This link allows you to report to Proofpoint directly any message that you believe is not spam. Proofpoint amasses reports from all over the world to help them keep their spam detection technology up-to-date and correct as possible. Please note that this feature sends the contents of the message to Proofpoint.
To apply any of these actions to a message in your Digest, simply click the link for the message. A browser window opens to let you know the request is being processed.
What else can I do?
You can also click the links in your Digest for other requests. These requests
are processed by the Proofpoint system. Here are some examples of requests
that you can make:
- Request New End User Digest: Click on this link and you will receive via e-mail an updated Digest report. This new report will include the full list of all messages in the quarantine.
- Request Safe/Blocked Senders List: Click on this link and you will receive via e-mail a report on your Safe and Blocked Senders.
- Manage My Account: The Manage My Account link allows you to make several changes to your Digest from a single web page. From this special web page you can add and delete e-mail addresses from your personal Safe Senders and Blocked Senders lists. You can also make changes to your personal profile, such as selecting a Spam Policy from the list of available policies, and selecting whether or not you want to receive a Digest even when you do not have messages in the Quarantine. You can also access the Proofpoint account management pages using the URL: www.princeton.edu/proofpoint.
How do I delete a message from the Quarantine?
There is currently no way to purge a message from the Quarantine. It will
expire on its own. You only need to take action if you wish to release the
message, add the sender to your safe list, add the sender to your block list,
or want to report the message as Not Spam, i.e. report a false positive.
The messages in Quarantine are not being reflected against your e-mail account
storage quota and are not affecting your e-mail account in any way, so there
is no reason to purge messages from the Quarantine.
Where is the Quarantine?
As you can see in the image below, the Quarantine is outside of the normal
flow of e-mail messages to your Inbox. The Postoffice sends spam to the
Quarantine, ensuring that spam does not affect your e-mail storage quota
nor clog your Inbox with spam.
I did not get a Digest report, why is that?
Your digest reports should only contain the list of messages that have been
quarantined since the last reporting period. You can see the full list of
quarantined messages if you request a digest report via the link in one of
your previous digest reports. Currently, empty digest reports are suppressed.
If no messages that have come through addressed to you have been quarantined
during the last reporting period, you will not get a digest report.
I used to use OIT's Spam Filtering Service. Is this new service the
same or different?
The new anti-spam service is different and has replaced the old spam
flagging/filtering service. Here are some of the reasons why Proofpoint is
superior to the old spam filtering service:
- Spam is no longer eating up your e-mail quota (spam does not get delivered to your mailbox and put in a spam folder). Every potential spam message (as identified by the Proofpoint system) is held in a special Quarantine for 30 days. No more backing up spam, no more waste.
- In the new service, you maintain your personal lists of "Safe" senders and "Blocked" senders.
- In the new service, you can tell Proofpoint directly if you think their spam detection technology has mis-identified a message as spam when it really is not. (Please note, using this feature does send the full contents of the message to Proofpoint so they can "feed" it to their spam/not spam engine.
- You can request a new digest whenever you want right from the automatically generated daily digest.
- Proofpoint, a company dedicated to anti-spam technology, is constantly updating and improving their spam detection technology. This means Princeton University students, faculty, and staff can focus on all the things that Princeton University does extremely well -- teaching, research, support -- instead of fighting against the onslaught of spam.
The Spam Filtering Service was discontinued when the new Proofpoint anti-spam service was enabled on June 7, 2005.
I would prefer to see only one digest a week, or one digest a month.
Is that possible to configure on my own?
At present the Proofpoint system does not have a way for individuals to set
a digest schedule. It is a system wide setting. OIT has sent a request for
enhancement to the vendor that they add such a feature, and hopefully they
will think it is a good idea.
Is this voluntary? Can I opt-out if I don't want this
service?
OIT does not plan on offering a true opt-out policy. It is the hope that
a "score-only policy" would be sufficient. The score-only policy will only
add headers to a message. No messages will be sent to the quarantine. To
do this, click on the Manage My Account link in a digest, and adjust your
Profile spam policy setting to "Score messages only, do not quarantine any
messages". You would then rely on your local e-mail client to use the information
in the headers to dispose of the mail in any way you wish.
I am still getting spam in my Inbox. What can I do about
it?
Spammers are always finding ways to circumvent even the best spam detection
technologies. Hopefully, you are seeing a tremendous reduction in the spam
messages in your Inbox. You can also use your e-mail application's built-in
tools to control your mail; for example Mac Mail junk mail filtering, and
Thunderbird/Mozilla's junk mail controls. These preferences, if enabled,
can be very effective in fine-tuning your spam controls for any messages
that should escape the e-mail firewall or Proofpoint filtering mechanisms.
See www.princeton.edu/spam for
more information.
Where can I get more information?
You can call the OIT Help Desk at 8-HELP with any questions or concerns.
You can also e-mail
proofpnt@princeton.edu if you
would like to discuss specifics regarding this new service.
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