Microsoft Outlook, often referred to as simply Outlook, is the email application that we use at KSU to send and receive our emails. Outlook is installed as part of our Microsoft Office suite of programs. All faculty, staff and students are supplied with their individual email account. This account will be used by the university as a form of communication for public announcements and other official messages. Stay informed, check your account often.
Did you know?
For added protection, our email server is protected by a high-end spam firewall. The firewall is a self-sufficient networking device that automatically handles all of the Universities spam-blocking. It keeps our email servers from getting bogged down with spam mail, thus enhancing server performance.
Blocked Spam
• Blacklisting of websites & domains: Blocks email based on an up-to-date list of the largest and most aggressive known spammers. This list is maintained by several Internet security organizations and automatically updates to our firewall.
• Keyword scanning of emails: Automatically scans email based on a scoring system. If the score is above a threshold, the email is flagged as spam and is blocked.
• Checksum technology: Keeps track of the number of times a particular message has appeared. If the number exceeds a threshold, it is categorized as known spam. Checksums of known spam messages are utilized by the firewall to block spam messages.
• Message authenticity checking: Utilizes several algorithms to verify the authenticity of a message. Some of these are simple checks to verify that the “from address” is authentic. Some are more complex relating to SMTP protocol.
• Blacklists and whitelists: Blocks or allows domains, IP’s, and email addresses. The decision on what types of emails to block is made based on the need to protect the Universities network.
• Rate Controls: Stop denial of service attacks as well as dictionary based spam attacks. Parameters for rate controls are maintained and execute automatically, much like blacklists.
• File type attachment blocking: Allow the blocking of certain types of files, such as vb scripts, from entering the University.