Here are a few tips to help reduce your chance of receiving spam and phishing emails:
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Do not use your university email account to sign up to 3rd party services (mailing lists, online retailers etc…) If you do, make sure you check to see that your email address will not be automatically passed to 3rd parties
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Only list your email address on public facing websites if absolutely necessary
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Never reply to spam
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Never enter personal information on screen or web pop-ups
There are also things you can do to deal with the phishing emails you receive:
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Go to
www.subscribe.soton.ac.uk
– sign in to manage your account - Choose an option for spam deletion and increase the filter
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Within outlook, add the address to the block a sender list (this will not work for emails sent from a university email address):
Block a mail sender
-
Create a rule based on key words in the subject or body of the email to filter emails out:
Manage email messages by using rules
Why might it appear that the University is sending out phishing/spam emails?
This would for be for two reasons either:
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a soton.ac.uk email address has been spoofed. If it is fraudulent address, when you click reply, the recipient address will change from the spoofed @soton.ac.uk address to something different.
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a member of the University has fallen victim of a phishing email and has handed their personal information over to a third party. This third party are then exploiting this email account and are sending mass emails to all contacts within the University and externally.
Further information on spam and scam emails can be found here:
Spam and scam emails
Copyright
By connecting to the University network, you are agreeing to the University’s terms and conditions of internet browsing which includes information on breaching copyright. The Conditions of Use states:
This does not include any activities which
:
Are illegal
This includes breaching copyright by making any copies of, or providing for copying, any copyrighted electronic works (such as music, films, TV or radio programs) without the consent of the copyright owner. This includes downloading and sharing. A work that is available to be copied does not mean it is available legally.
Breach any University Regulations
All use is subject to the
University regulations
, to which all University members have agreed to abide by; these include the regulations for Use of Computers, Voice, Data and the Internet.
-
You must not provide anyone else access to the network or any other University services by:
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Permitting others to use your network access in your room (you remain responsible and liable for all use of the facilities in your room)
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Connecting insecure [1] wireless access points to the halls data network
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Running services for other users
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Giving them your password
-
Logging them into our services with your username
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Your password is for your own use. The University will never ask for your password in any communication or email
Interfere with the normal operation of University services
Deliberate or accidental use that results in:
-
Excessive use of resources, such as overloading
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Preventing access by other users to services for academic use
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Disruption to the normal operation of any university service
Note: Certain types of software can disrupt the operation of the network. These include but are not limited to peer to peer file sharing programs, media streaming applications(used for watching TV online), computer viruses.
In cases of any use that is illegal, a breach of University regulations or unreasonable:
-
The University has the right to limit, block, restrict or remove access to any network services in order to
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Prevent further misuse of University facilities
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Investigate misuse
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Protect access to services for other users
If necessary these measures may be taken without warning to users:
-
Disciplinary action may be taken against that user in accordance with the University regulations if any misuse by any user is either
-
Considered serious enough to require immediate formal disciplinary action or
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A repeated or second offence (after receiving a formal warning)
Other notes
:
-
Halls Firewall rules do apply which may restrict use of certain software and services, including
-
Use of computer games
-
Peer to peer file sharing
-
Network traffic may be monitored
[1] If?you attach wireless devices to the Halls network points then:
-
They must be only used for your own personal use
-
You
must
ensure that a suitable level of security is applied to the wireless - a minimum level of WPA2 encryption is required, WEP is not acceptable
-
You must not allow anyone else to attach to your wireless devices, or share the encryption keys with any other person.