Viruses, spam (junk email), and phishing scams are frequently encountered when surfing the Internet, using email, and downloading music and/or programs. 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.
If you suspect that your computer is infected with a virus, make sure that you have updated antivirus software installed on your machine. Then, run a complete scan of your system and follow the provided instructions for quarantining or deleting the harmful files. (If you do not have antivirus software installed on your machine, you can download free antivirus software from our site.)
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 via email to trick you into releasing your bank, credit card, or other private information to an unidentified individual. If you believe that your bank, credit card, or other financial institution is contacting you, do not respond to the request. Contact them directly by phone to confirm the validity of the request.
Should you mistakenly respond to one of these emails, change all of your associated passwords immediately and/or contact your financial institution directly.
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.