Every faculty, student and staff member with a Metro e-mail account has been the recipient of unsolicited commercial e-mail, commonly known as spam. Spam is e-mail that you didn't ask be sent to you, is commercial in nature (e.g., an advertisement), and for which you don't have a prior e-mail relationship with the sender. Spam e-mail most often advertises fraudulent or low-quality services or merchandise.

An estimated 60-70 percent of inbound messages at large institutions are spam or contain malicious content. The volume of spam is increasing, causing the issue to become a high priority for higher education institutions.

Information Technology at Metro State is in the process of investigating spam control solutions for the college e-mail system. The following criteria are being used to measure each product-from freeware to outsourcing.

1. an anti-spam solution that can handle today's complex spamming
   methods
2. a server-side anti-spam solution that stops spam before it ever gets to user
   in boxes
3. a Web-based system administrator interface
4. a fault-tolerant, redundant anti-spam solution
5. state-of-the-art anti-spam capability, as well as general e-mail security
   
6. the ability to quarantine incoming user e-mail classified as possible spam
   
7. the ability for the end user to select quarantined e-mail on an individual basis
   for delivery

Once the investigation is completed, a report will be submitted to the president's cabinet for review. The college's goal is to implement the most cost-effective, user-driven solution to help control spamming today and into the future.