How Much Spam?

April 27, 2009

I tool a look at our spam filter statistics today to see how hard we are getting hit with attempted spam. Below are the stats for incoming email over the past month or so. Everything in the spam count column was blocked by our filters. Overall, our spam filter is working well. We have relatively few false positives or false negatives.

Date

Clean Mail Count Spam Mail Count All Mail Count Percentage as Spam
3/29/2009 678 7,676 8,354 92%
3/30/2009 1,322 10,907 12,229 89%
3/31/2009 1,215 12,796 14,011 91%
4/1/2009 1,073 15,166 16,239 93%
4/2/2009 1,380 26,373 27,753 95%
4/3/2009 1,608 15,192 16,800 90%
4/4/2009 624 19,752 20,376 97%
4/5/2009 754 16,907 17,661 96%
4/6/2009 1,355 23,851 25,206 95%
4/7/2009 1,077 21,452 22,529 95%
4/8/2009 970 29,104 30,074 97%
4/9/2009 849 24,143 24,992 97%
4/10/2009 579 28,450 29,029 98%
4/11/2009 425 29,417 29,842 99%
4/12/2009 388 28,614 29,002 99%
4/13/2009 1,593 16,236 17,829 91%
4/14/2009 1,518 21,602 23,120 93%
4/15/2009 1,332 16,335 17,667 92%
4/16/2009 1,431 22,006 23,437 94%
4/17/2009 1,318 24,712 26,030 95%
4/18/2009 234 12,586 12,820 98%
4/19/2009 323 15,525 15,848 98%
4/20/2009 1,324 15,351 16,675 92%
4/21/2009 1,275 18,111 19,386 93%
4/22/2009 1,576 18,919 20,495 92%
4/23/2009 1,603 17,094 18,697 91%
4/24/2009 1,650 18,894 20,544 92%
4/25/2009 658 15,657 16,315 96%

Real or Fake?

November 12, 2008

Our district was hit with another email virus barrage this morning. Fortunately, most were stopped by our filters. Unfornuately, a couple of emails got through and one of our computers managed to become infected. The virus was contained in an attachment and the computer became infected when the attachment was opened.

The thing about email viruses now a days is that they usually don’t infect unless the recipient does something with the email (other than just to delete it). But sometimes it can be hard to distinguish a legitimate email from a fake. In today’s example, the email posed as a UPS package tracking notification.

So what are some ways to distinguish a legitiamte email from a fake? Here are some questions to ask yourself:

  • Are you expecting this email?
  • Does the email ask you to open an attachment or click a link?
  • Are there any unprofessional elements in the email such as spelling or grammar problems that an email from a legitimate company would not have?
  • Is the email trying to grab your attention and create a sense of urgency?
  • Is the email sufficiently vague that it could apply to anyone reading it?
  • Is the sending email address not from the official company email address?

If you have any doubt whatsoever, it is best to delete the email and contact the company through legitimate channels. So, in the case of today’s UPS virus email, it would be best to delete the email and then visit the UPS website and enter a tracking number there rather than open an attachment or click a link in the email.


Virus Warning – Obama Video

November 5, 2008

Some nefarious types are capitalizing on the election news and have created an email posing as an interview with Barack Obama. It contains links to a virus. It is new enough that anti-virus software is not picking it up. We are doing our best to configure the filter to stop it but just in case, please be cautious.

 

As always, never open suspicious emails or click on links in emails unless you are confident they are legitimate.

 

For more info, visit the websense description: http://securitylabs.websense.com/content/Alerts/3229.aspx 

 

Let us know if you have questions.