The university has introduced mechanisms to reduce spam YorkU email accounts.
Christopher Russel, director of ICT infrastructure and information security officer, says spam is an ongoing challenge, but the university is utilizing anti-spam technology to reduce it.
“We try to identify spam or other non-legitimate emails coming in and some of it is based on the reputation of the source,” says Russel. “So if it’s sent from a place on the internet that is known to send spam, then we obviously can reject the incoming email.”
Apart from this, the university uses an automated system that statistically determines whether or not the content of email is spam.
The university has also introduced a Computer Security Awareness Tutorial available on Moodle for students this academic year. The tutorial aims to help students understand the issues around internet security, as Yorku email accounts have been targeted in the past by advertisers and online scams.
“The tutorial helps students understand things like ‘phishing.’ Phishing is when you’re sent an email that says something like, ‘Your bank account is being illegally authorized, click here to fix it,’ and brings you to a criminal website and harvests your bank credentials,” says Russel. “We’re trying to help students understand some of these issues and protect themselves.”
Hamid Adem
News Editor
