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Anti Spam

This site contains information about the Johns Hopkins perimeter anti-spam solution. The anti-spam solution we are using is IronPort’s Anti-Spam.

Spam is considered unsolicited email, often of a commercial nature, that is received by an email user.  Email that meets the criteria of being spam, by the Enterprise Email Relays, is deleted by default.  However, active Hopkins users have the option to "opt-in with digest" with Enterprise Messaging's spam quarantine service.   This option is available under the "myJhed" tab by logging in to my.johnshopkins.edu.  The user will find a "Spam Quarantine Options" link allowing the user to change the default spam quarantine setting.  Users that select the "opt-in with digest" option will have their spam messages quarantined and receive a daily spam digest allowing the user to view all identified inbound spam messages. 

Reporting False Positives and Missed SPAM

It is possible that the anti-spam software will mark a legitimate e-mail message as spam.  This is considered a “false positive”.  Users that have a "opt-in with digest" spam quarantine setting should review their daily spam digest to see if a false postive has been captured.  You can report a false positive message to our anti-spam vendor so that future messages, with similar characteristics as the false positive message, will not be identified as spam.  In order to report false positives to the vendor (IronPort), you must forward your e-mail as an attachment to: ham@access.ironport.com.

It is also possible that some spam e-mail will not be detected by the anti-spam software. Some spam senders design messages in a manner that makes them less susceptible to anti-spam software.  Missed spam can be reported to Ironport by forwarding the missed spam e-mail, as an attachment, to: spam@access.ironport.com.

Reporting Phishing and Other Suspicious Email

It is common for email attackers/hackers to send messages, masquerading as a trustworthy entity, attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords, credit card details, and other personal information.  These type of messages are known as "Phishing" and should not be responded to in any way.  If you receive a phishing email, or any email you're unsure is legitimate, please forward that email to: spam@jhu.edu or spam@jhmi.edu

E-mail Client Filters for JHEM Users

The anti-spam software will mark, not block, any messages that are sent or received by the Hopkins e-mail systems. The individual e-mail user can choose to create a rule or filter to make the job of managing these messages easier. JHEM users can create rules that automatically forward these messages into a specific folder. It is recommended that people continue to review messages that are marked as spam and implement a forward rule a few weeks later. This will help in understanding the types of messages that are marked as spam and whether or not these should be forwarded into a folder that can be reviewed less frequently.