In response to the wave of spam e-mail that hit UB's campus network last semester, the Computing and Information Technology Department has changed the way all e-mail on campus is sent.
As of Feb. 23, computers on the UB network, ResNet, will only be able to send mail through one server - smtp.buffalo.edu - along with a few departmental mail servers sanctioned by CIT.
The change will not affect users who use any external webmail service, such as AOL or Hotmail, or the UB webmail. It will also not affect people who use the Mulberry e-mail client or any client like Microsoft Outlook express, as long as they have it configured to use smtp.buffalo.edu as an outgoing mail server.
ResNet users who use a mail server other than smtp.buffalo.edu - such as users with a high-speed Internet service provider, or Linux users who set up their own personal mail server - may be affected by Monday's change.
According to Richard Lesniak, director of academic services for CIT, allowing mail to travel only through smtp.buffalo.edu will foil the plans of rogue spam mailers, who last semester hijacked over two dozen computers on ResNet and turned them into spam mail servers.
When spam mailers hijacked computers last semester, they created their own mail servers on the machines that could send out up to 300 spam e-mails per second, according to Lesniak.
This clogs up ResNet with traffic and gives UB a bad reputation on the Web as a facilitator of spam mail, Lesniak said.
After the change made on Monday, however, only mail sent through smtp.buffalo.edu will be delivered - therefore, no e-mail sent through spam mail servers on individual hijacked machines would be sent.
Some users who send mail via a departmental mail server, such as cse.buffalo.edu, may encounter initial difficulty sending mail after the change. However, Lesniak said as long as the mail server belongs to a legitimate academic department, CIT will modify their policy to allow mail originating from that particular server to be delivered as well.
Lesniak added that anyone who has encountered problems sending e-mail since Monday's change should call the CIT Help Desk at 645-3542.
