GVSU's technical support staff is about to take some new computer security steps that will allow only GVSU accounts to send e-mail through the university's servers. This will prevent non-GVSU users from using the university's system.
The measures, which go into effect April 10, are in response to the rapid rise in spam mail, according to John Klein, systems analyst for Academic Computing.
The junk e-mail- or more commonly called 'spam mail'- problem goes beyond delivering unwanted e-mail to faculty, staff and students, he says. Occasionally people with no affiliation to GVSU are using the GVSU e-mail server to send spam mail out to the world.
Klein says the issue presents Grand Valley with two problems. First, many e-mail providers have identified GVSU as having an open server and are refusing to accept any e-mail messages that come from GVSU. Second, the increased traffic is slowing down the system.
The changes will not affect the majority of GVSU e-mail users. cc:Mail, cc:Mobile, Pine, and EdgeMail are configured so that messages will be sent with the new server restrictions, says Klein. E-mail will also be accepted if it is sent from a computer that is directly connected to the Grand Valley network or connected over a modem to the Merit network.
Klein says this change will affect faculty and staff members who don't connect to the Internet through Grand Valley's network or the Merit network, and use an Internet-based e-mail package (e.g., Outlook, Outlook Express, Netscape Email, Eudora). If their e-mail package is configured so that the out-going mail (SMTP) setting says smtp.gvsu.edu or river.it.gvsu.edu, they will need to contact their Internet service provider (ISP), find out the address of their outgoing (SMTP) mail server, and configure their e-mail package accordingly. Call the Academic Computing Help Desk, at x2038, for help with retrieving e-mail.
Faculty and staff members who are traveling and taking a laptop computer along, and not using the Merit network, should contact their departmental liaison for further information.
