Less spam in your mailbox: CIT starts blocking the worst on Feb. 1

By Leslie Intemann

On an average day, Cornell receives more than 250,000 e-mails that score a 90 percent or higher rating for spam (or junk e-mail) content. That translates into a nuisance with which we are familiar -- cluttered inboxes, frequently obscene subject lines and ever-climbing mail storage quotas.

This nuisance peaked last summer when MSN (the Microsoft Network) and Hotmail began blocking all e-mail coming from Cornell (including legitimate mail), because spam forwarded through our system as part of the alumni e-mail forwarding program made Cornell look like a spam relay to other service providers. That blocking process continues to this day.

"We asked why we should continue to inflict this junk on ourselves," said Rick MacDonald, director of Cornell Information Technologies' (CIT's) Systems and Operations group. "We've been running Sophos's PureMessage, our spam-identifying system, in full production for well over a year. We've all had ample opportunity to see how it works and what it identifies as spam. We're certainly well aware that the vast majority of the community is fed up with it, and it's time to act."

As a result, CIT is advancing a proposal to begin rating all inbound mail for spam content starting Feb. 1. Any message that PureMessage rates with a 90 percent or higher probability of being spam will be rejected, and a negative acknowledgement will be returned to the sender's mail transfer agent.

"In our experience, real messages coming through with false-positive ratings at the 90-percent level are rare. Nonetheless, we want to ensure that the sender of an e-mail with a false-positive rating has the best possible chance of knowing the message was not received, why that happened and what to do about it," said Jim Howell, CIT's e-mail messaging manager. "In other words, the sender will get a message saying the e-mail bounced; we won't simply black-hole the message."

The bottom line is that CIT will not lose mail. "If we weren't comfortable with this rating system, we wouldn't be recommending it," said MacDonald, who is currently working his way around campus to discuss the proposal with faculty, staff and students. Feedback to date has been favorable.

"Thousands of alumni will be pleased to receive less spam and pleased that we've identified what looks like a good solution," said Mary Berens, director of Alumni Affairs.

"Cornell University reserves the right to maintain optimal maintenance and operational control over the network," said Tracy Mitrano, director of IT policy. "This proposal poses no conflict for our existing information technology (IT) policies, but rather is supported by it -- University Policy 5.1, Responsible Use of Electronic Communications, in particular. What is laudable about this operational direction is the communication, education and consensus building that has gone into the project."

For more information, contact virus-spam-mgr@cornell.edu.