| OCR Text |
Show 4 -- CAMPUS BEAT DIXIE SUN WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2003 Spam invades computers across the country your Inbox always full of spam? Here's how the spammers infiltrate your system. Is by Aaron Duncan Dixie Sun News Editor Computer spam draws your attention to sex, to online diplomas, and to everything in between. Everyone who has email has most likely experienced those unwanted messages. The number of spam messages that make it into an email address depends on the number of spammer lists that the email address has made it onto, and what is being done to protect it from spammers. Companies like Postini, Inc. (www.postini.com), an email systems perimeter protective service, track the latest trends in spam. Postini provides filtering services to ISPs. Their service filters out spam at an average of one spam to every 1.5 messages. In 24 hours Postini processes more than 51 million email 65.8 an harvest Spammers address in several ways. They use programs that search message boards, chat rooms, and even the register of people who have visited a web site. Then the spammers add those email addresses to their databases and sell them for big bucks. The biggest problem we are having now is directory harvest attacks, said Infowest vice president Randy Cosby. A directory harvest attack is made by a program that will b , r are spam. A? X. - messages, of which try sending a message to an address such as, for example, ainfowest, then to aaOinfow-est- , and so on. When it gets one that is not returned as a bad address, it saves that to a database and then the list is sold, says Cosby. Postini.com reports that 30 of an emails server capacity is tied up by spammers trying to steal private email addresses. If you reply to an email with the message unsubscribe as the subject, that is one way to get your email address added to another spammers list. Your unsubscribe reply verifies that your address is a working email account. Similarly, a message that con- - ACADEMICS z'' continued from FRONT s ?there s still time bi 'for spring classes at Dixie State College SL beginning the week to register call 652-770- 1 of February 18th or visit www.dixie.edu Most students end up in this position because they are trying to work too much. Working up to, but no more than, 20 hours a week can actually be beneficial to students because it helps with time management, remarked Bryant. If a student got good grades in high school, and they are getting bad grades here, Bryant likes to find out why. Bad grades do not always mean a bad student, Bryant commented. When a student fails to earn a 2.0 or better for a third semester, or fails to meet the requirements set forth in the conditional enrollment, academic suspension is the next step. The student will not be allowed to attend Dixie for one regular semester, not including summer. To gain admission back into DSC, the student must then meet with the director of advisement and the Scholastic Standards Committee. DIXIE STATE COLLEGE OF UTAH There are eight people who sit on this committee; it consists of faculty, students and advisement staff, and they will decide whether it is in the schools best interest to allow tains a link to unsubscribe serve the same purpose will Spamcop (www.spamcop.coni) is a company that helps fight spammers and get them kicked off their ISPs. Pasting a copy of thespam message, headers and all, on Spamcops web site will set them in motion. The Federal Trade Commission pursues and prosecutes spam- mers, but the majority of spammers are overseas. It is possible to reduce the amount of spam you receive, but beware they are tire- lessly searching for your very own email address. the suspended student back into Dixie. These steps are not set in states stone, Bryant. Depending upon a students circumstance, some leeway will be granted. Most students who fail three semesters in a row usually need help, she said. What most students dont realize is that they are not just spending their own money here, Bryant states. Students only pay of the cost of education, the state pays the one-thir- other two thirds. The school has an obligation to make sure that the states money is being spent wisely she says. The students that end up in this system do not fall into any one category, they are all over the board, says Bryant. Most students need to learn how to become college students. They are living by themselves and going to parties. The first year grades suffer the most, she indicates. The satisfaction of Bryants job comes when students come back and learn a lesson, she says. She likes to see students succeed and she believes the system is set up to help with that. |
