Protecting against SPAM

In the wake of email scams and the flood of junk mail that assails our inboxes, ITS is taking steps to stop spam email from originating from within our organization.  In the event that an RMC email account becomes compromised, ITS will take steps to safeguard the RMC and internet communities.

How does an email account become a spam engine?

Hackers use a variety of means to illegally obtain email addresses and passwords to use your email account as a SPAM engine.  Phishing emails are often used with a variety of subjects and compelling reasons why you should submit your user name and password.  ITS will never send an email asking for your user name and password.  Phishing emails are just one of the many tools used by hackers to gain unauthorized access to user names and passwords.

What will happen if your account becomes compromised?

Once our Email firewall detects that an account has started to SPAM, the outbound email will be blocked. Users will still be able to receive email but will get a "non-deliverable" message for all email they attempt to send.  If this happens to you, ITS will send an email notifying you of the issue along with the steps required to correct the problem.

When ITS is notified of an account being compromised the account password will be changed as soon possible.  This will be done to stop the source of the SPAM.  Compromised email users will be contacted via an alternate email or phone number on file.  Provide the requested information to help determine how the account was compromised. We will advise you on how take precautions to ensure that this vulnerability will not be exploited again and confirm that your outbound mail queue has been cleared of all offending messages. Follow the instructions outlined.  Once we have confirmed you have completed the required steps, we will contact Microsoft to have your account re-activated so that outbound email can flow again.  The re-activation process may take up to 2 hours to complete.  The most important step is to change your password.