Proofpoint - Email Protection

WCU uses Proofpoint, a leading platform for protecting against spam, phishing, malware, and spoofing attacks that come through email.

The Proofpoint Messaging Security Gateway is responsible for enforcing email anti-spam, anti-virus, advanced threat and content policies. All incoming email is inspected by Proofpoint before being delivered to you. Proofpoint's URL Defense feature protects against malicious email links. Proofpoint rewrites links from external senders, allowing Proofpoint to verify the link is safe at the time you click it, and block malicious sites from loading. When a virus, scam, spoof, or potential threat is detected, the email or content is blocked. Messages that are likely spam or unwanted but could potentially be valid will be made available to you via your Personal Spam Quarantine.

You can manage your Personal Spam Quarantine via the daily End User Digest, recieved in your inbox, or by logging into the Proofpoint Portal below. If you believe a legitimate link or message is being blocked (not delivered to your inbox or available in your Spam Quarantine), please contact Help Desk.

For more information you can read more about Proofpoint Email Protection.

While Proofpoint provides strong protections, no platform can detect malicious emails with 100% accuracy. It remains important that end users be aware of potential email based threats, exercise caution, and practice good cyber security practices.

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Spam Information

What is Spam?

Spam is the term used for any unsolicited email. A better description of spam is email that is unsolicited and does not have a legitimate return address label. There are email messages that you receive that are still unsolicited; however, they are coming from legitimate sources.

How did I get on their lists?

There are many ways your email address could have been submitted to a list. First, you may have subscribed to an email distribution list or filled out an online form for a company that does not have a privacy policy. The distribution list owner most likely sold the list to an email distributor.

Another method is by specialized software that hunts for email addresses. The software is set loose on web sites, bulletin boards, Usenet, and other documents published on the internet. These address hunters, create their lists, and use them for email distributors.

Finally, there's the sneaky way... The spammers send a message to some list that they have. However, that list may have lots of invalid addresses. So, they clean it up by putting a link on the bottom of a message telling you to "click here" to remove yourself from the list. Once you click here, the spammer now knows that this was a valid address, and moves your email address to a "good" list.

What do I do now?

This is a difficult question to answer. The answer is "it depends." If it is true spam, there may not be an easy way to get your address off their lists. However, if it is unsolicited email from a legitimate company, you can compose a new message (don't reply) to the company that is "advertised". Ask them to remove your email address from their list. Many times legitimate companies have a generic address such as abuse@company.com, or postmaster@company.com.

With true spam, the return address is usually invalid. Therefore, it is difficult to determine who really sent it. Many times you'll see spam from Gmail.com or Yahoo.com. These are just about impossible to trace without a lot of technical research to trace the message. These messages probably traversed many networks or even countries before it ended up in your Inbox.

How do I avoid getting on lists?

This is another tough question. Make sure that you verify any web site's privacy policy before submitting your email address or name to the site. This includes online purchases and subscriptions. If you do receive unsolicited email, don't reply to the message or click on the "unsubscribe" option, unless you know it's a valid option.

Further Information

If you have any questions about spam or unsolicited email that you received, you can contact the Help Desk for assistance. 

Links

Proofpoint Email Protection

Logging In

  1. Open an internet browser and type the following in the address bar: https://spamcontrol.wcupa.edu/
  2. Log in using your WCU RamNetID username and password

Personal Spam Quarantine

Proofpoint's End User Digest contains your emails that have been quarantined by the spam filter. You can manage your spam filter directly from the daily End User Digest email, or via the Web Interface by logging into the Proofpoint Portal. Please see the Email Spam Digest and End User Web Interface sections in the following guide to learn more. 

Managing Safe/Blocked Senders

Previously called Permitted and Blocked Senders list. Proofpoint allows you to create and maintain your own personal Safe Senders and Block Senders Lists. Please see the Email Spam Digest and End User Web Interface sections in the following guide to learn more. 

Reporting Spam/Phishing

Proofpoint displays different types of tags or banners that warn users about possible email threats. Each of these tags gives the user an option to report suspicious messages. You can also report phishing emails to the IS&T Help Desk by forwarding them to: helpdesk@wcupa.edu.

It is recommended to check the Information Services & Technology Phish Bowl for the latest phishing alerts.

For more detailed information on how to report a suspicious email, please view the How to Report Suspicious Email KB.