OIT works around kinks in spam filter

Last month, delays slowed email services at Tech when messages due to a virus backed up a new spam filtering system recently implemented by the Office of Information Technology(OIT). In addition, some individuals' entire inboxes were temporarily deleted.

Chief Technology Officer Ron Hutchins said the holdups were related to a spike in messages passing through the new Ciphertrust system, which helps rid incoming mail of spam.

However, he said that the filter improves the Prism system in many ways.

He explained that the Ciphertrust system functions first with a "spam identification" system that helps Tech filter unwanted emails from unknown sources.

"This has been one of the most asked-for things on campus...The roll-out [of the Ciphertrust system] was successful until we had the influx of a virus," Hutchins said. "It sent a huge number of emails into the system."

Jason Belford, OIT's technical leader on spam control, said that the week of Feb. 16-when the delays occurred-OIT saw approximately 200,000 emails sent due to the virus.

Fifth-year Electrical Engineering student Gregory Heim experienced email problems during the weeks of Feb. 16 and Feb. 23.

"Somehow a listserve I am on got a virus or spammers got hold of the [honors] club email. And now I get porn spam."

Hutchins said, however, that such email on a listserve is most likely not related to the Feb. 16 virus.

Most students seemed unaffected by the recent filtering errors. "I didn't have a problem," said Nihal Ladiwala, a student worker at the computer cluster in the Student Center.

Ladiwala expressed satisfaction with email accounts on campus.

He also pointed to the message located on Webmail's homepage (webmail.mail.gatech.edu) as an efficient way for OIT to communicate Prism's status to students.

The message is contained in a "status bar" that is green when prism works correctly, and red when problems arise. "It's sort of self-explanatory," Ladiwala said. "Usually, 95 percent of the time, it's green."

Other students concurred. "I haven't had any problem I remember," said Matthew Liedy, fifth-year Electrical Engineering major.

Hutchins said that overall, the new filtering system has proven "very successful."

"It's business nowadays," he said. "People advertise through this service. It's so insidious-you can turn off your TV, not look at billboards."

Regarding Ciphertrust, Hutchins said, "This is a new relationship with us. We feel pretty confident that we won't have that level of slow-down again."