Anti-Spam Service
Information Technology Services
The University already employs many layers of anti-virus and anti-spam protection, but unrelenting electronic attacks and solicitations are requiring us to strengthen our email security practices.
The University of Iowa has implemented an improved Anti-Spam service to reduce the volume of spam that email users receive. Currently, email marked with the pound sign (e.g., spam?#) indicates the likelihood that a message is spam. More pound signs (#) indicates a higher likelihood that a message is spam.
By default, email with a spam probability of 90% or greater will be returned to the sender with a message indicating that the message was blocked. You may change the default and select the spam level acceptable to you. You may completely opt-out of the service, continue to have spam marked and delivered with the pound sign designation, or you may choose to block messages that are spam-rated at different thresholds.
To select your spam threshold now go to the Anti-Spam Tool. You will have to login to the tool with your Hawk ID and password. You may adjust your settings at any time.
- The Anti-Spam Tool selections only apply to email messages sent from off-campus to your university alias (firstname-lastname@uiowa.edu) email address.
- E-mail sent directly to your @iowa.uiowa.edu address will be rejected if the SPAM probability is 80% or higher. Individual preferences cannot be set for @iowa.uiowa.edu addresses.
- The default for Special Email Accounts will be to continue to flag potential Spam with # signs and deliver them (tag & deliver). To change the spam threshold setting for Special Email Accounts, contact the ITS Helpdesk at (319) 384-Help (4357).
For an explanation of the Spam Threshold Settings, visit Anti-Spam Service Help.
Why was this improved service needed?
There is no constitutional requirement that the incremental cost of sending massive quantities of unsolicited advertisements must be borne by the recipients. - Judge James Graham, U.S. District (Ohio)
The University currently receives about 800,000 individual email messages every standard, in-session day. We have seen a 100% growth in the total number of messages in the last year, and expect that trend to continue. In addition, the table below shows that approximately 50% of our total incoming email is SPAM (unsolicited bulk email).
ITS believes matching unwanted email traffic with capital investment is not fiscally responsible. Instead, ITS has implemented an improved Anti-Spam Service, based on probability statistics derived from the campus PureMessage email protection software.
A typical day (November 2, 2006) for email coming into the campus:
| Spam #s | Probability Rating % | Number of Messages |
Percentage of total messages |
| ###### (6) | 100 | 159,950 | 20 |
| ##### (5) | 99 | 173,562 | 21 |
| ##### (5) | 90-98 | 57,546 | 7 |
| #### (4) | 80-89 | 96,195 | 12 |
| ### (3) | 70-79 | 6,539 | 1 |
| ## (2) | 60-69 | 28,534 | 4 |
| # (1) | 50-59 | 2,010 | 0 |
| none | 0-49 | 288,999 | 36 |
For more information
- about Spam impact at the University of Iowa, review Spam Impact and Analysis - presented in November 2006.
- about Spam impact at the University of Iowa, review Spam Impact and Analysis - presented in February 2004.
- about the Anti-Spam Service, visit our Anti-Spam FAQ.
- regarding security issues, see IT Security.
If you have any questions about the Anti-Spam Service, please contact the ITS Help Desk at (319) 384-HELP (4357)