December 14, 2006
To: UCOP Community
From: Michael Shannon, Manager, IR&C Communication Services
As many of you have noticed, the amount of spam we experience has greatly increased over the last month. This is actually a global phenomenon that has been reported in the New York Times and by other news agencies. In a counter attack to anti-spam measures, spammers have become very sophisticated and now frequently use "image spam," such as text written in wavy lines or text with patchwork colored or dotted backgrounds. It is very difficult for traditional anti-spam software to recognize this type of spam.
In our continuing efforts to curb spam, IR&C; has purchased new anti-spam hardware that has won praise from industry experts. We are testing the product this month and expect to begin using it in January. We hope to be able to greatly reduce the amount of spam you receive, although we will not be able to eliminate it entirely. I will let you know when we start using the new anti-spam tool.
