TecInfo is set to roll out new technologies, in a product called CanIt, to enhance the overall security of your email. As email usage is steadily on the rise, the security threats introduced by email (SPAM, Viruses, Worms, Phishing, and so forth) are also on the rise in terms of quantity and complexity. TecInfo estimates that 90% of all email traffic sent to users is SPAM. Protecting you and your computer from such threats can be complex, costly, and inconvenient.

This letter, as well as other information about this system is available on the TecInfo home page (http://tecinfo.net). Click on the link “SPAM filtering”. This will display a page with Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) as well as documentation and access to the system.

We have set up system defaults that should work correctly for a majority of our users. You may not even notice that this system is in operation protecting you and your computer. For those of you who want further information, read on.

Briefly, the way that CanIt works is that each email message is scanned by a sophisticated set of software that scores a message on the basis of its probability of being SPAM. The techniques for this scoring are changing constantly as the SPAMers develop new methods to fool this technology. As an example, some time ago the SPAMers started to send out pictures of their message instead of using the text in an email. This was done solely to circumvent the then-current filtering algorithms. The filtering logic had to be made more sophisticated in order to detect this type of SPAM message.

After CanIt scores the message, it will look at your personal rules to determine what to do with the message. If it has a low score, meaning it is probably not SPAM, it will deliver the message to your mailbox. If it has a higher value, meaning it probably is SPAM, it will quarantine the message in a database. These quarantined messages are retained for 9 days, allowing you to retrieve them if you wish (see process below). After 9 days, the messages will be deleted.

This solution has been in a rigorous testing phase for almost four weeks. Our testing shows the new solution to be more than 99% accurate in detecting threats. If the new solution has mistakenly marked a particular message as SPAM, it is waiting in a queue for your review.

You will notice a change to your emails. Appended to the bottom will be three “links”: “Spam”; “Not spam”; and “Forget vote”. When the CanIt system misinterprets a good message as SPAM, or visa-versa, you can help us be more selective in identifying SPAM if you will click on one of these links to classify the message. If you receive a SPAM message in your mailbox, click on the “Spam” link. If you retrieve a message from the quarantine queue that is not SPAM, click on the “Not spam” link. If you have previously clicked on one of these links for a message, and change your mind, you can click on the “Forget vote” link to cancel your previous evaluation of the message.

When you click on one of these links, you will be asked to log in to the CanIt system. Use your email address and your email password. You will get a page that opens and will report the result of the action (for example: “Message has been marked as spam.”).

There is additional access to examining the messages that are in the quarantine queue and controlling how the SPAM filter works, and it is very easy to use if you follow these instructions:

1. Click on this link: http://spamdb.tecinfo.net (This link is also available on the TecInfo home page. Go to http://tecinfo.net and click on the “SPAM filtering” link in the top right-hand side of the page).

2. Enter your email address as the Username.

3. Enter your email password.

4. The page that is now displayed has a number of option on it, but we will concern ourselves with the main part of the page which is labeled “Pending Messages”. You can sort this list by clicking on the title (Date, Subject, or Sender) to help you identify messages. You can then take an action on a particular message, by simply clicking on the radio button of your choice. The icons under status are: “?” for leave in quarantine queue; “check mark” for deliver to your email box; and “X” for delete the message from the queue. When you have marked the messages you want to have delivered or deleted, then click on the “Submit Changes” button at the top or bottom of the page. Note that there are three icons at the top of the page following the word “All:”. You can mark all of the icons on the displayed page by clicking on one of these icons.

5. If you want to set up behavior similar to the old Blocked Message Report, click on “Preferences” then “Notification”. Here you can enter your email address, it is probably already set to your address, click on "Yes" to include details, and select the times you want to receive a notification (hourly gets annoying). When you are done, click on "Submit Changes". The system will email you, based on the times you selected, a report of any messages pending your review.

6. For those of you who wish to explore further options, click on the “User’s Guide” link in the top right-hand corner of the screen. This will give you complete information on the system. Most users will not be interested in this document. CanIt is extremely powerful and flexible. If you wish, you can set up any rules you want to handle your email SPAM. Just be careful and make sure you understand the consequences of any action you may have the system take.

7. Click on Logout
That's it!

Thank you for your time!

TecInfo Network Operations