Spam filter reports: FAQ

Email filtering (spam) reports are now being sent to all users of the medical campus Exchange email system every 24 hours. 

Here are answers to common questions about the reports:

Why do I still sometimes get spam?  And why does it seem to be increasing?

The volume of spam continues to rise each month.  The email filters are very accurate, but not perfect, so a small percentage still gets through.

How do I manage the spam that gets through?  What can I do to reduce the spam I receive? 

In general, your best friend is the "delete" key.  For spam-reduction tips, read Learn about Spam email.

Why do I sometimes get more than one spam report?

This occurs when you have more than one active email address (this includes email aliases that forward to your email address).

Can I get the reports on a different schedule than every 24 hours?

The filtering software requires the same schedule for all users.  We picked 24 hours as the frequency based on a survey of user preferences. You can access your quarantined mail whenever you wish at http://spamreport.med.miami.edu.

Can I opt out of getting the reports?

Yes.  Send a request to the Help Desk at help@med.miami.edu.  We are working on a capability for you to manage your own spam reporting preferences, but it is not yet available. 

How can I report spam to Medical Information Technology?

Highlighting the spam email in Outlook and clicking Forward is not enough. A simple forwarding of the spam email does not retain important information which helps Medical IT see where email is truly coming from. You must forward the spam email as an attachment. This method does not discard the information in the header. Read on for instructions on "forwarding as an attachment" in Outlook 2003 and 2007.

Outlook 2003
Outlook 2003 does not have the option to forward email as an attachment by default. You must change your settings to forward email as an attachment. Follow the steps below to enable this function.

A. Open Outlook 2003 and click Tools, then Options from the Menu bar.
B. Under the Preferences tab, click Email Options in the Email section.
C. Click the drop down list under the "When Forwarding a message" section. Choose "Attach original message".
D. Click OK at the bottom of the Email Options window.
E. Click OK at the bottom of the Options window.

 
F. Highlight the spam message in Outlook and click Forward. If the message is open, click Forward in the toolbar.
G. Enter spam@access.ironport.com in the To: field and click Send.

Outlook 2007

Outlook 2007 does not require any settings to be changed. Follow the steps below to forward the spam email as an attachment.

A. Open Outlook 2007 and highlight the message you want to forward.
B. Click Actions on the Menu bar.
C. Click Forward as Attachment.
 
D. Enter spam@access.ironport.com in the To: field and click Send.

How do I use the Spam Quarantine page?
Open your browser and go to http://spamreport.med.miami.edu or click the link for quarantined email in your Spam Quarantine Notification email.

Changing the Language
To change the Spam Quarantine page’s language, click Options in the upper right corner of the page, then click on the language you wish to use. This will not change the language of the quarantined emails.

Previewing a Quarantined Email
Click the Subject of the quarantined email. The resulting page will show you the details of the email. You can then select an action from the drop down list.

Actions
Release- Choosing this action will release the email to your inbox.
Release and Add to Safelist- Choosing this action will release the email to your inbox and emails from the sender will no longer be quarantined.
Delete- This deletes the email from quarantine.

Click Submit to finalize the action.

You can perform these actions on quarantined emails without previewing the emails. On the Spam Quarantine Page, click the checkbox next to the email(s) you wish to apply an action to. Then select the action and click Submit to finalize the action.