Phase two testing of Information Technology Services’ spam-blocking software begins Monday and involves scanning all e-mail sent to an NIU e-mail address.

As a way to clean up NIU’s e-mail server, ITS began testing a software program in March that aims to “filter” unwanted e-mail and spam.

Spam is the term for suspicious and “junk” e-mail that takes up space on e-mail accounts and usually contains unwanted information.

ITS Associate Director Elizabeth Leake said the program is an attempt to stop spam at the edge of the network before it hits any internal mail server.

The program, called CanIT-Pro, has virus- and spam-scanning capabilities as well as statistical reports.

“These statistical reports are invaluable, as they validate any actions we are forced to take, such as blocking known specific virus-carrying attachments,” Leake said.

Leake said the department chose the CanIT-Pro software because it is compatible with all of NIU’s systems and is cost-effective.

The program cost $27,000 and was paid for with ITS technology funds, she said.

During phase one of testing the software, ITS had more than 150 administrative and support members of NIU who volunteered to use CanIT-Pro on a test basis.

“To date, over one million attachments and 600,000 virus-infected files have been blocked,” Leake said.

During phase two testing, CanIT-Pro software will compare e-mail received against a list of properties normally associated with spam.

Suspicious mail will continue to be received as usual with a slight change.

Messages that have the characteristics of spam will be labeled “spam” on the subject line, along with asterisks depending on how many properties associated with spam are found.

Any score of more than 20 asterisks will be administratively rejected, with the sender being notified.

The final phase of testing is to begin during the 2005 academic year, during which messages that have been identified as spam will not be delivered.

Leake acknowledged that spam scanning is not a perfect system, so establishing a personal black and white list will be required to make sure the spam scanning is effective.

“We have heard a mixed response from the focus group that volunteered to test the product,” she said. “Some find the task of customizing their individual black and white lists time-consuming, while most are happy to dedicate the time it takes to make their lists effective.”

For more information about the program, contact ITS at 753-8100 or visit its Web site at www.its.niu.edu.