Jackson Mote is a junior French major
from Indianapolis.
CHRISTA SCHRODEL / THE DEPAUW
If you’ve viewed your @depauw.edu email within the past few weeks, you’ve probably noticed a recent trend of spam emails invading your inbox.
Have you seen the the subject lines “Job Opportunity,” “Copy of Project Plan,” “EBOLA IN USA” or “Review Soft Copy?” All of these are examples of spam emails that have reached our DePauw network. Even if you haven’t received the spam emails, you’ve seen their subject lines in the seven emails that HelpDesk at DePauw has sent in reaction to the recent influx of spam.
I recognize that cyber security is important and that on a daily basis, HelpDesk protects us from all sorts of nasty malware attacks and network issues. It is great that HelpDesk has the initiative to remind us to change our passwords and run virus scans due to the spam. However, their constant notifications (via tech-notices@depauw) of spam emails on the campus have become repetitive and furthers the issue of spam itself.
I believe that users of technology should educate themselves and that being said, HelpDesk is doing us a favor by sending emails regarding spam emails that we may or may not have received and that affect our cyber security. However, individuals who use technology should be aware of the dangers surrounding their devices before they have to be incessantly reminded of incoming spam.
When you see a suspicious email, it should be common sense to report it as spam if it is from a sender that you do not recognize and trust. Even though we are on a college campus and a large amount of group work occurs between students, the subject lines “Copy of Project Plan” and “Review Soft Copy” should not fool you. Generic subject lines should immediately set off a red flag in your mind, before your even open the email.
While some will say that these HelpDesk emails are not spam, I firmly believe that they are spam. Even though they do not fit the “junk” aspect of spam content, as defined by Wikipedia, open any of these seven emails and you’ll quickly notice that they are “nearly identical messages sent to numerous recipients by email.”.
HelpDesk at DePauw should research, develop and implement more efficient ways to notify DePauw University of incoming spam and virus attacks because right now they are fighting spam with spam and spam is winning.