If you're tired of ads in your inbox that claim you can lose 10 pounds in 10 days, or that it's easy to refinance your mortgage, you may be disappointed to hear that e-mail spam is here to stay at UB accounts.
Though it is well known that e-mail spam is a global problem, many students wonder why nobody in the Office of Computer and Information Technology has found a way to solve it, at least locally.
Some students said they have tried to protect their e-mail accounts, but the frustration continues.
"I see a ton of spam in my bulk folder everyday, and tons that I don't know how to separate in my Mulberry," said Jim Horng, a senior English major. "It's very bothersome because every time I check it I have to delete dozens of junk messages just to get to that one class e-mail."
CIT officials said although spam is an annoyance, students are not helpless against it. Spam cannot be eliminated altogether, but there are ways that it can be reduced to a manageable amount.
"The biggest thing they can do is use an e-mail client that has a built-in filter," said Mark Ferguson, manager of the CIT help desk. "Thus far everything we have done operates at the student level. You decide on an individual basis what to do."
Ferguson said UB has taken some measures to help students and to make sure spam is not sent directly from UB. Additional plans are also in the works to toughen junk filters for student use.
Spam has recently become a bigger problem because it is much cheaper and easier to distribute than paper junk mail letters, Ferguson said.
"It comes down to money and selling things," Ferguson said.
Ferguson said even when students ignore spam, the spammers send out more e-mail to reach their necessary numbers.
Spammers work very hard to track people, ensnaring both old and new e-mail accounts, Ferguson said. Companies that produce spam even hire hackers to help them infiltrate student computers.
"A lot of the worms and viruses that exist right now were created by hackers paid by spammers," Ferguson said.
After a person has been targeted for spam it is difficult to make it stop. Even if a student changes his or her IT name or e-mail address, it will have no effect because spam is randomly sent to addresses, Ferguson said.
"Once you're on a list, you're on a list," Ferguson said. "There are lots of different ways for spammers to get e-mail addresses, even new ones."
Wing Liu, a chemistry major who also works at the CIT Help Desk, had some pointers for minimizing the amount of spam received.
"Don't just put your e-mail address out there on Web pages," Liu said.
"This means blogs, facebook, and other similar stuff."
Liu also advised students not to respond to any spam e-mails, even if there is a link to unsubscribe.
"You are just confirming that your e-mail address is real," Liu said.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
