We’ve been having plenty of stormy weather over the past few days, so in keeping with the theme, did you know you even get e-mail storms?

“An email storm is a sudden spike of Reply All messages on an email distribution list, usually caused by a controversial or misdirected message. Such storms start when multiple members of the distribution list reply to the entire list at the same time in response to the instigating message. Other members soon respond, usually adding vitriol to the discussion, asking to be removed from the list, or pleading for the cessation of messages. If enough members reply to these unwanted messages this triggers a chain reaction of email messages. The sheer load of traffic generated by these storms can render the email servers inoperative, similar to a DDoS attack.

A related phenomenon occurs when a subscriber to a mailing list emails the mailing list to “UNSUBSCRIBE”. People will reply to the hapless individual on the mailing list, half of them advising on how to unsubscribe, the other half referring to the manual of the mailing list manager. More subscribers will reply to the previous round of respondents, again to the list, this time about mailing list etiquette.

Some email viruses also have the capacity to create email storms, by sending copies of themselves to an infected user’s contacts, including distribution lists, infecting the contacts in turn.”

[SOURCE: www.wikipedia.org]

If you receive an email claiming to be from the IT department (see example below), do not open it or click on any of the links.

This is a phishing email attempting to acquire your passwords and other information. Immediately delete the email and do not reply to it.

IT e-mails will always be in the same format with IT’s name, correct contact details, the SU logo and and English and Afrikaans version. Please read our guidelines on how to distinguish between an offical e-mail and a phishing e-mail here.

From: University Mail Quota Verification [mailto:donotclickhere@cca.edu]
Sent: 17 June 2013 07:44 AM
Subject: Staff/Student/Employee

Dear: Webmail Subscriber

We hereby announce to you that your email account has exceeded its storage limit. You will be unable to send and receive mails and your email account will be deleted from our server. To avoid this problem, you are advised to verify your email account by clicking on the link
below:

http://universityhelpdeskteam.webs.com/

Thank you.
Copyright © 2013
The  System Administrator Management Team.

If your first mail in the morning is junk mail or spam, it’s enough to start your day off on the wrong foot. But did you know you can do something about it?  

Spam, or junk mail is defined as identical, disruptive e-emails sent to a large amount of e-mail or cellphone users.  When a receiver clicks on one of the links in the message, he/she is diverted to a phishing website or websites containing malware.  Spam e-mails can also contain hidden malware scripts.

Recently there has been various iterations of spam and phishing. One variation seems to be from SARS, another from ABSA and yet another one from the IT department.  Don’t ever respond ever to mail sent to you by “persons unknown”. If you are unsure phone or e-mail the IT Helpdesk (021-8084367) or e-mail them at helpinfo@sun.ac.za, otherwise call or e-mail your local computer expert who can advise or at least check-up for you.

Mail from Information Technology will always be branded and clearly addressed to you, will have an English and an Afrikaans translation and will always contain links that point to the “sun.ac.za” domain and never anything else.  

Unsure how to distinguish between the real thing and spam or phishing e-mails? Read more about it on our selfhelp wiki and you’ll find various examples on our blog.

If you’re bombarded by spam om a regular basis, there’s one way of declaring war on it. Did you know you can send the relevant mail to IT so we can block the user, domain and/or service provider? Just follow these simple instructions below.

HOW TO REPORT A SPAM E-MAIL