Defense System (a.k.a. Junk mail & Virus Filtering at the Server level)
The problem today 15 million virus messages go across NU’s network annually. University constituents & NUIT are very concerned about the increase of junk mail & viruses, & the effect on productivity. Webmail & handheld devices cannot benefit from desktop client junk mail filtering tools.
What has NU been doing about this? Information about client side filtering has been made available on the NUIT web site. Conversations with NU Legal have been in process to ensure that server level filtering does not violate the pursuit of academic freedom. NUIT has been monitoring the marketplace. It wasn’t until recently that a clear leader emerged at a price point that is acceptable to the University. NUIT has conferred with peer institutions to learn from their experience.
How will this help with viruses? Stops an infected embedded message from getting to the desktop (reduces problems we’ve recently experienced with Eudora). Automatically downloads the latest enterprise level virus definitions (versus current home grown system).
What are the benefits? Productivity increases (less time spent going through junk ) Webmail becomes a more useful tool Less chance of a user hitting the 50MB quota on the server Increased network security
How does it work?
Progress to date During the month of December, trial Sophos PureMessage. Goals of the trial included: - Configure PureMessage to identify fewer than 1% ‘false positives’ and ‘false negatives’ based on the total amount of received. - Refine groups and policies and conduct a usability assessment based on a survey sent to each member of evaluation team. - Monitor system performance with PureMessage statistics and reports. - Determine if PureMessage should be recommended for purchase and implementation as the University’s Defense System (EDS).
Initial set up Two groups: Faculty/staff & students sent by virus mass mailer = Rejected contains virus attachment = Message quarantined, attachment rejected Faculty/staff probability rating % = Quarantined Student probability rating 48-94% = Quarantined % = Rejected from northwestern.edu domain never considered junk mail (exception = spoofed addresses) Users receive daily digest of Quarantined mail Quarantine = 7 days (unless set otherwise) User web page to manage personal white/blacklists, opt out of service, & refine personal settings
Results of trial 93% of trial participants felt product would be of benefit to NU Community. 79% rated the product as “very easy” to use. 79% rated the effectiveness in identifying junk mail as “very good”. Software has been purchased. Will deploy version 5.0 before end of May 2005.
EDS Deployment plan Use tool for virus filtering in March Phase 1: Further refine system set up parameters with input from “key early adopters” (March 2005) –Three groups: Faculty/Staff/Graduate students: 48%-100% probability quarantined. Undergraduates: 48%-94% probability quarantined, 95%+ rejected. Alumni: 50%+ probability rejected, no quarantine. –Quarantine kept 7 days (can increase to 120 days) –Digest of junk sent to users overnight. Phase 2: Expand early adopters list to include technical support staff throughout the University. (April 2005)
EDS Deployment plan Implement campus wide education plan (including how to easily opt out of the service and how to use client side filters with server side filters). (March, April, May 2005) Within a few weeks we will finalize a “full launch” date that will be communicated campus wide.
Other initiatives Symantec AntiVirus 10 (with improved spyware capabilities) Meeting Maker 8.5 (with Outlook plug-in) service improvement investigation
Questions?