In recent weeks, students using the Penn State e-mail server have seen an increase in the number of junk e-mail messages, many containing viruses, that they receive daily.
Senior Director of Academic Services and Emerging Technologies Kevin Morooney said that in the last three months, Information Technology Services (ITS) has had to take emergency action on three different occasions to stop the virus-carrying messages, which use common subject lines to get into the e-mail server, from spreading.
At one point, Morooney said, ITS was blocking eight e-mail messages per second, 24 hours a day, for as long as a week.
Robin Anderson, ITS associate director of customer communications, said ITS is aware of the problem, adding that the lack of virus protection on student computers is causing the messages to bombard students' inboxes.
"It's like a virtual person goes in the address books and sends messages out that make it appear to have come from your Penn State address," she said. "There is only so much we can do at the border, but students who do not monitor the operating systems -- they are adding to the problem," she said.
Many of the virus messages students are receiving come from their friends, teachers and advisers with subject lines such as "RE: Thanks," and "Here is the attachment you wanted."
Information Sciences and Technology professor Gerald Santoro said nine out of 10 of these bogus messages are planting worms and/or viruses in the network.
Russell Vaught, associate vice provost for information technology, recommended students use e-mail filters and continuously update virus protection. But technology and software can only partly fix the problem, he said. "You have to train them; it is a personal thing we have to do," he said. "Nothing will be perfect."
Morooney also said students need to update virus protection codes daily. "Start practicing good virus protection habits," he said. "It is no different than changing the oil and checking the fluids in you car."
He added that students should not post their e-mail addresses on Web sites because that is how spammers find students' e-mail addresses. "Your computer can be hijacked," he said.
Vaught said he is frustrated with the amount of junk mail he gets daily. The university has purchased software to block spam and junk e-mail messages, but he said the level of junk mail is still very high for students and faculty.
"We are getting it just like everyone else," he said. "People are getting good at tricking technology filters."
Santoro said he receives about 150 to 200 pieces of junk e-mail messages every day. The volume is increasing because the country does not have any type of protective anti-spam laws, he said.
"More people are getting involved in spamming, " he said. "People are jumping on the bandwagon because they can get away with it. The answer will involve some type of legislation to prevent abuse and misuse."
Morooney said the Penn State server blocks anywhere from 200,000 to 4 million junk e-mail messages per day. Blocking spam is a daily battle with no "silver bullet" to stop it, he added.
"Spammers are fighting to get their mass e-mails out, and we are fighting to get it out of the server," he said.
Santoro said there is no easy technological solution to stop junk mail from coming. "How can computers or software look at spam and know if it is or not?"
Vaught said he is afraid students are going to be getting an increased number of junk e-mail messages.
Chad Gordon (sophomore-information sciences and technology) said he gets about 50 to 100 pieces of spam mail every day. "It gets worse every day," he said. "At first, I thought it was just a few server mistakes, but it has turned into an epidemic."
