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Indytel's Email and File Storage Specifications
Email Features
Thanks to recent server upgrades, Indytel's email service is MORE SECURE and MORE RELIABLE than ever! Not to mention, MORE POWERFUL and EASIER TO ACCESS! Most Internet Service Providers limit email messages to small file sizes and offer only a small amount of storage space for email and personal web files. Not at Indytel! Check out the benefits of our email service:
MAIL STORAGE (was 5MB) - now 10MB!
PERSONAL WEB SPACE (was 5MB) - now 10MB!
MAXIMUM EMAIL MESSAGE SIZE (was 5MB) - now 10MB!
To access your email via webmail
@indytel.com email address users: http://webmail.indytel.com
Check Mail Anywhere (New Features)
Many Independence Light & Power, Telecommunications (IL&P,T) customers can use the webmail website to check their email. It is especially handy for customers who want to check email remotely such as those who travel.
Several new features have recently been added to our email service, and one of the most important of these is a new security option called Barracuda. When viewing emails with images in webmail, graphics that present a potential security issue are replaced with a message that will display: “This image has been removed for security reasons.” This potential security problem will only affect those who use HTML (HyperText Markup Language) to display their email webmail.
There are two kinds of images that can accompany HTML email: images that come attached to the email itself or images that link to remote sites. An example of an image that is attached to an email would be one in which a person attaches photos to an email that they wish to send to a friend or relative. An example of “unsafe images” are images that are linked to a remote site.
These images are considered “unsafe” for the following reasons:
1. Spammers can use this to validate your email address.
2. The sender will know instantly if you have or have not read their email.
3. The sender can receive information about your browser, operating system, and your mail server.
Here are more details on the above issues and how your system may be compromised when clicking on an image:
1. Validating your Email Address
Spammers can include specially crafted image tags that contain what is called a “bug.” A “bug” can be used to validate your email address and validate that you read the email. When such an image is loaded, a request is sent to the spammer's server and makes notes in its database of email addresses. These addresses are then resold and the amount of spam you receive will continue to grow.
2. Verifying That You Have Read Your Email
If there are images in the email that link to the sender's website, they will know when you have opened and read the email. This can be used to prove the email was opened and read.
3. Finding Out Information About You
When an image is loaded off the remote server, it leaves a “log” entry about the type of system you are using, including: the version of your browser, your Internet IP address and information about your mail server and software. This information could be used to carry out attacks either on your computer or on the server where webmail resides.
4. Malicious Tags
Images in email also can be used to execute scripts in an attempt to trick your browser into revealing your account information to other people who have malicious intent.
The above information should give you a better appreciation for the security problems you may encounter while reading your email. The next time you see the warning “This image has been removed for security reasons” in your email, think of the possible security issues.
Protect Yourself - Protect Your Password
As a computer user with Internet access, the most important thing you can do to protect yourself and the security of your personal data is to protect your computer usernames and passwords. Computer passwords should never be shared with anyone. Whereas a credit card can be cancelled in the case of fraudulent use, and your loss is typically limited to $50, there is no such guarantee or ability to limit the use of a stolen password.
Change your password regularly and immediately if you suspect it may have been stolen.
In order to protect your password, you should change it frequently. As a general rule, you should change your password at least every six months, and immediately whenever you suspect the security of your password has been breached.
Indytel passwords must be at least 6 characters long.
Short passwords are easily hacked. Indytel requires that user passwords be at least six characters long. For even greater security, it is recommended that your password be at least eight characters and include a combination of letters and at least two numbers.
How do I change my password Step 1?
If you have lost or forgotten your password, you will need to have it reset by the Indytel Helpdesk. Call 319-334-3880 to receive your password information.
Step 2: Change Your Password in Outlook Express
After you have changed your password:
Launch Outlook Express. When prompted for your password, type in the new one and check REMEMBER PASSWORD. Click OK.
Blocking Unwanted Email & SPAM
Are you receiving a lot of unsolicited email messages, or SPAM? We understand the frustration you feel. At IL&P,T you can be reassured that we do not provide any customer information to third parties. As a public utility, we have guidelines that specifically prohibit this type of information selling.
SPAM and How to Avoid Getting It
Never reply to a spam asking to be removed. If you do this then you have validated your email address as live. The spammer may well remove your email address from their database, but they might sell all these validated email addresses to other spammers. So the best advice is simply press the delete key.
There is software available which can extract email addresses from web sites. So instead of having your email address on your web site, consider using a form instead. You can have a drop-down list of the departments or the people that the form is destined to.
As with the above if you post messages to some notice boards, these boards can also be searched for email addresses, so be careful.
If you use Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express, use the ‘Rules Wizard’ or ‘Message Rules’ to detect for emails that contain certain words. Outlook or Express can then automatically put these emails into a ‘possible spam’ folder.
Set up a few ‘free’ email accounts if you regularly ask for information from web sites. Set these up bearing in mind that one day you will ignore all the emails going to it.
If you open an email, it is possible that the sender knows you have seen it. An ID tag can be attached to the page and the sender’s server knows you’ve opened it because your computer would start downloading images. So be sure to go offline before you open any emails.
Emails can be sent with a "read receipt" request attached. So if you get a window saying “The sender has requested a read receipt be sent” select NO, unless of course you know that person.
Sometimes to get you to reply to an email you might get in the subject line “Re: password” and then in the message there will be a random number. Again, just delete it.
Another spam technique is a message asking you to delete them from your database. When you check your database, you can’t find them and they are hoping you will reply saying they are not in your database. If you do this you have just validated your email address.
Option to Delete SPAM at the Server - you can choose to categorically delete email tagged as SPAM and will not have to wait for it to download to your mail client. You will no longer have to manually delete SPAM.
You will have two different selections available:
Delete Email Tagged as SPAM at the Server
Deliver Email Tagged as SPAM to my Mail Client
If you make the selection of DELETE EMAIL TAGGED AS SPAM AT THE SERVER, the following disclaimer will be presented in a dialogue box:
"You have selected the DELETE EMAIL TAGGED AS SPAM AT THE SERVER Option. These emails will be permanently deleted. in choosing this option you understand and agree that IL&P,T is providing this service option for your convenience and is not responsible for deleted email. It is strongly recommended that you select a SPAM detection setting no lower than 5 when using this option."
How can you minimize the amount of junk mail you receive? Here are some actions you can take:
Use Indytel’s Barracuda Control Manager to Filter Out Unwanted Email
To get started with Barracuda Control Manager, click here.
Barracuda will give you per-user controls for controlling what email is delivered to your email client before it gets there. To proceed fill in the “Username” box with your valid email address and no password for initial setup then select “Create New Password”. An invitation will be sent to your valid email account with a URL to click on to get access. Should you have any questions about how to use this interface please refer to Barracuda’s help document by selecting the “?” found next to the item you wish to change.
Create an Alternate Email to Use
To change your email address, please contact us by phone at (319) 334-3880. We will provide you with a new username and password and help you reconfigure Outlook so that you can begin using your new email account.
Use Outlook Express to Block Email from Certain Senders
You can use Outlook Express to block messages from a particular sender. Once you have configured Outlook Express to block email from a particular sender, all future email from this sender will go directly into your DELETED ITEMS folder.
To block email from a particular sender, follow these steps:
1. Open Outlook Express.
2. Highlight the offensive email in the upper box by clicking on it.
3. From the top menu bar, open the MESSAGE menu and click BLOCK SENDER.
4. A window will appear telling you this address has been added to your BLOCKED SENDERS list, and ask if you would like to remove all messages in your current folder from this particular sender. Click YES.
Notes:
· Outlook Express can only block standard POP mail messages. It cannot block HTTP mail (i.e. Hotmail) or IMAP messages.
· You will need to set up the BLOCK SENDER feature for each sender whose email you wish to have automatically deleted.
· To remove a name from the BLOCKED SENDERS list, from the Tools menu, select MESSAGE RULES, and click BLOCKED SENDERS LIST.
Use Outlook Express to Manage SPAM
Once you set up Indytels's Barracuda Control Manager to detect SPAM, for even greater convenience, you can use Outlook Express to sort out the unwanted messages.
1. Open Outlook Express.
2. On the TOOLS menu, click MESSAGE RULES and then MAIL.
3. If the MESSAGE RULES dialog box is displayed, click NEW, and create a new rule as follows:
4. Under step 1, CONDITIONS, check the box for WHERE THE SUBJECT LINE CONTAINS SPECIFIC WORDS.
5. Under step 2, ACTIONS, check the box for MOVE IT TO THE SPECIFIED FOLDER.
6. Under step 3, RULE DESCRIPTION, check the box for CONTAINS SPECIFIC WORDS.
7. When prompted for a specific word or phrase, type *****SPAM and then click ADD. Click OK to close the dialog box.
8. Under step 3, RULE DESCRIPTION , click the link for SPECIFIED folder.
9. Click the NEW FOLDER button. Type FILTERED SPAM for the folder name and then click OK. Click OK again to close the MOVE dialog box.
10. Under step 4, NAME, enter a name for your rule and click OK.
11. The MESSAGE RULES dialog box will be displayed.
If you have multiple rules, you will probably want the SPAM rule to be applied first. Rules are applied according to their order from top to bottom. Select the SPAM rule and then click the MOVE UP button to move this rule to the top of the list.
If you only want to apply this rule to new messages, click OK to close the dialog box.
If you want to apply the rule to currently downloaded messages, check the box for the SPAM rule and click APPLY NOW.
12. If you choose to apply the SPAM rule now, the APPLY MAIL RULES NOW dialog box will be displayed.
Ensure that the SPAM filter rule is highlighted.
If you want to apply the rule to a folder other than the one displayed in the APPLY TO FOLDER field, click BROWSE to select a new folder.
Click APPLY NOW to apply the SPAM rule to the selected folder.
13. Click CLOSE to close the APPLY MAIL RULES NOW dialog box.
14. Click OK to close the MESSAGE RULES dialog box.
Making the Most of Your Email Service
To help you make the most of your email service, we'd like to share the following tips:
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Tip #1
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Download or delete your email on a regular basis.
Our email servers are not intended to be used for email storage. Please download your email from our server on a regular basis. If you do not download your email, when you reach email capacity on our server, you will no longer be able to receive email.
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Tip #2
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If you use webmail, don't leave email in your TRASH or SEND MAIL folders.
If you use the web to access your email, be sure to delete email from the TRASH folder and the SEND MAIL folder. All mail left online in your TRASH and SEND MAIL folders will be deleted on a weekly basis.
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