Spam Email Filtering FAQs

Email Filtering FAQ’s

Introduction to Email Security

IT Services scans all incoming email for security purposes. This scan identifies malicious email content and filters out thousands of unwanted junk emails.

How does email scanning work?

All emails are “scored” based on an ever evolving algorithm. Emails that contain a virus, or spam, or inappropriate content are scored, and if the email scores high enough, the messages are sent to the Low Priority or Quarantine section of your end user digest. The End User Digest allows you to see information about emails without having them in your mailbox.

What is the End User Digest?

If email messages addressed to you are sent to the End User Digest, you will receive an email notification periodically in your inbox. The Digest provides you with a list of the messages addressed to you that are Low Priority and have been delivered or Spam messages that are stored in the Quarantine. You can see the email addresses, the message subject, and the security score.

What is the Low Priority?

Low Priority indicates the email is a newsletter, invitation, announcement or other form of bulk spam messaging. The email is delivered to either your inbox or junk/spam folder. You can allow messages from the sender by clicking the allow sender link in the end user digest.

What is the Quarantine?

Quarantined is a location where email messages are stored temporarily because they might contain malicious viruses, or inappropriate content. If the message is infected with a virus, the virus will be removed. You can release your messages from the Quarantined section of the End User Digest if you determine that they are not spam. Messages not released from the Quarantine are automatically deleted after 14 days.

How do I release an email from the End User Digest?

If an email is in the Low Priority it can be a legitimate email. If you decide you want to read the message, you can click allow sender to prevent future emails from this sender being on the Low Priority list. Quarantined messages provide the user the ability to release this specific email from quarantine, release and allow sender will release this specific email and allow all future emails from this sender to be delivered to your inbox. The last option is to mark the mail not spam.

Below is an example of the End User Digest and possible actions you can take.

What are the Safe Senders and Blocked Senders Lists?

There are two types of Safe Senders Lists: the Global Safe Senders List and your personal Safe Senders List. Both are simply lists of legitimate senders of email. The email administrator controls the Global Safe Senders List, which applies to everyone in the organization. You control and manage your personal Safe Senders List to which you can add and remove the addresses of people, organizations, and mailing lists from which you do want to receive mail.

If a sender’s address is included in the Safe Senders List, the email protection server scans the message for a virus or inappropriate content, but does not scan for spam. If the message passes the scan then the message from this sender will be sent to your inbox.

There are two types of Blocked Senders Lists: Global Blocked Senders List and your personal Blocked Senders List. These lists contain addresses of people, organizations and mailing lists from which you do not want to receive “junk email”.

The email administrator controls the Global Blocked Senders List, which applies to everyone in the organization. You control and manage your personal Blocked Senders List to which you can add and delete the addresses of people, organizations, and mailing lists from which you do not want to receive mail.
If a sender’s address is included in the Blocked Senders List, the email protection server scans for viruses and inappropriate content, but does not scan for spam before sending it to the Quarantine.

Where can I go if I need more help or have further questions?

If you need more assistance or have further questions, please contact the IT Services Desk by phone at 304-876-5457 or e-mail us at itworkorder@shepherd.edu