Spam is unwanted, unsolicited junk e-mail sent to a large number of recipients usually promoting a product or service. It reduces productivity and burdens NIU equipment by having to deliver the mail and take up valuable storage space. Some spam can be very offensive to the recipient. Additionally, it is sometimes used to spread worms and viruses that wreak havoc on the NIU network and destroy your data.
ITS blocks mail from known spammers from entering the NIU network. All NIU students are automatically opted into spam filtering. The application allows students to set individual spam preferences. For more information, visit: go.et.niu.edu/canspamhelp or contact the ITS Helpdesk at: helpdesk@niu.edu or 753-8100.
Using your NIU e-mail account for purposes other than university communication will greatly increase the amount of spam you receive.
Avoid publicizing your e-mail address on websites (such as MySpace™ and FaceBook™), public bulletin boards, newsgroups, and chat rooms. Consider creating and using an e-mail address from one of the free e-mail address providers for these purposes.
If you doubt the source of a message, verify the message is legitimate before opening. Frequently spam messages include “Web beacons” enabling the spammer to determine how many, or which e-mail addresses have received the opened message.
NIU, your bank, credit card company, eBay, Paypal, etc., already have your account details, so they would not need you to validate them. If you are not sure if a request for personal information from a company is legitimate, contact the company directly or type the website URL directly into your browser. Do not click on the links in the e-mail, as they may be fake links to phishing websites.
Never reply or unsubscribe to an e-mail you suspect is spam. To unsubscribe, contact the company directly. Even e-mail that appears to come from a source you know may not be legitimate – check that your reply goes to the correct e-mail address.
Spammers’ sole purpose is to make money. If people don’t buy from them, the companies will quit using this form of advertising.
Review all pre-selected options for products you register online. The default setting is to send updates as well as to register for other topics. The original company may sell their mailing list to other marketers.
Use the blind copy (bc) field to conceal e-mail addresses when sending a message to a large number of people. This protects their identities if the message is forwarded or responded to by one of the recipients.
Spammers use software that searches websites for mail with links that use the conventional text addresses such as name@something.something. Try spelling out the punctuation. For example, use name at niu dot edu in the source code instead of name@niu.edu. Another example is to use the actual html code of the dot or @ symbols: (dot= .); (Commercial at, @ = @). HTML code would be name @ niu . edu.