Viruses, spam (junk email), and phishing scams are frequently encountered when surfing the Internet or using email.
Mercer IT attempts to protect you from spam, viruses, and other scams through spam quarantine software and up-to-date lists of common viruses and scams:
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About Viruses
Viruses are small programs that corrupt normal computer operations or files. If downloaded, the viruses could cause severe damage to your computer and/or the Mercer network and may result in significant data loss.
About Spam
Spam is junk email that may contain offensive or deceptive content. Spam can also contain harmful attachments or viruses.
About Phishing Scams
Phishing scams are attempts to trick you into releasing your email account, bank, credit card, or other private information to an unidentified individual. These emails are sometimes disguised to appear as they are from a reputable source. The “From” address may even appear as though it is from Mercer University or your bank. Mercer will never solicit password information from you, and you should never respond to these types of emails.
Should you mistakenly respond to one of these emails, change all of your associated passwords immediately. You may also want to contact your financial institution immediately if you provided sensitive bank information. There is no need to contact the IT Help Desk to notify us of the scam. For assistance with changing your password, visit the Email Access section of our website or you may contact the IT Help Desk.
Spam Protection
All Mercer email accounts are protected with a spam-blocking product called IronPort, by Cisco Systems, Inc. IronPort scans your incoming emails for possible spam and quarantines (captures) suspicious emails.
IronPort periodically sends out a spam quarantine notification report (to your email account) of all recently quarantined emails so that you can ensure all suspected spam is actually junk email. If any of the quarantined emails are not junk, click the Not Spam link next to the message to return it to your normal email inbox. IronPort only releases reports when spam has been quarantined; if you have not received any suspected spam to your email account, IronPort will not send you a spam quarantine notification report.