Intrinsic Blog

Webmail is getting a new look

We'll be rolling out a new version of webmail (yes, again) on June 12th.

While the main differences will be to the user interface, it's more than just a facelift, the app has undergone an overhaul on both the front and back ends.

The existing interface was becoming dated - scalability and flexibility were getting more difficult. Usability needed to be improved. A positive user experience was getting harder to acheive with the existing application.

The functionality you've grown accustomed to will remain. The main differences you'll notice will be in the location of menus ... we've tried to make things more intuitive, so you can find what you're after more easily and with fewer clicks.

New version of webmail

We'll be rolling out a new version of webmail on November 15th.

The most noticeable enhancement will be a 'pop-in compose' window for creating a new email message. What does 'pop-in compose' mean?

Currently, when composing an email, a new window is opened in your browser. This is quite a slow process. Once the new feature is released, the compose pane will open up inside the same window as your inbox and it will be much faster. If you would rather have the compose windows open in another window, you can simply choose to 'pop-out' with the arrow in the top right portion of the compose pane. The webmail system will remember whichever action was done last.

Other additions in the new version:

• Autocomplete
• Keyboard Shortcuts
• 'No Subject' notification
• 'No Attachment' notification

Beware of domain name transfer scam

We've been alerted to a new email scam designed to transfer domain names away from their legitimate registrars. Please be on the look out in your in box for a message from http://www.domainrenewal-online.org/ that will ask you to follow a link to renew your domain name. Please ignore this message and get in touch with us if you have any questions. While we're on the subject, most of you already know this, but we'll say it again ... if you receive a letter in the mail from Domain Registry of Canada, you should ignore that too, they try to trick people into transferring their domains to them. As always, please ask us if you're not sure.

New version of webmail

The following features are now available in webmail:

• Create and share multiple personal calendars
• Grant read and write access to your calendars for other users
• Allow calendar access to anyone via iCal feeds
• Right click access to menus for Email, Calendar, Contacts, and Tasks
• Add notes from within the webmail interface to easily record your quick thoughts

New webmail features

The following features will soon be available in webmail:

• Create and share multiple personal calendars (currently only one personal calendar is available)
• Grant read and write access to your calendars for other users
• Allow calendar access to anyone via iCal feeds
• Right click access to menus for Email, Calendar, Contacts, and Tasks
• Add notes from within the webmail interface to easily record your quick thoughts

RSS Feed Removal From Webmail

Dear clients,

RSS is a technology with a lot of potential to increase productivity by making communication easier and more relevant. Unfortunately, that potential has not been realized in the broader world and while RSS is very useful, it has not become an indespensible tool for most of us.

A decision has been made to drop the RSS Feed reader that is built into our Webmail application. RSS will no longer be available beginning on August 15th.

There are several reasons for this decision:

1. RSS hasn't reached the critical mass necessary to go main stream. The total number of our users taking advantage of this feature is less than 0.2% and is not growing. Basically, if you're reading this message via RSS, you're in the minority!
2. Our RSS Feed reader is in need of a major overhaul, which requires development and hardware resources. This in turn will drive up costs that will have to be passed on to our customers and this is something we wish to avoid.

We want to give you plenty of time to migrate your RSS feeds. Below you will find instructions for migrating your feeds to an alternative RSS feed manager.

 

MIGRATION INSTRUCTIONS

We have developed migration instructions for several popular RSS feed reader alternatives.

 

Google Reader - http://reader.google.com

If you would like to use Google Reader, a free web based RSS feed reader, please sign up at http://reader.google.com and follow the steps below to import your RSS feeds:

1. Export your feeds from Webmail.
2. Sign in to Google Reader.
3. Click the Settings link in the upper right of the page.
4. Click the Import/Export link.
5. Click the Browse button next to the "Select an OPML file" box.
6. Select the file that you exported from webmail, and click the Open button.
7. Click the Upload button.

 

Bloglines - http://www.bloglines.com

Once you have registered with Bloglines and replied to the confirmation email, import feeds by doing the following:

1. Click on the Feeds tab at the top of the screen.
2. Click on the Edit link.
3. Click the Import Subscriptions link at the bottom of the left panel.
4. Next to the "OPML File" box, click the Browse button.
5. Select the file that you exported from Webmail, and click the Open button.
6. Click the Import button.

 

Newsgator Online - http://www.newsgator.com

Once you have registered with newsgator online, import feeds by doing the following:

1. Click the Add Feeds link at the top right of the page.
2. Under the URL & Import tab, click the Import link.
3. Under "To import feeds from an OPML file, use this form," click the Browse button.
4. Select the file that you exported from Webmail, and click the Open button.
5. Click the Import button.
6. Click the Subscribe button.

Webmail upgrade

A new version of webmail is now available. The biggest change is in the 'Settings' section, which has undergone a complete overhaul to make it easier to manage your email configuration. Other improvments include:

• The ability to create and save HTML-based signatures ... you can even upload an image to incorporate into the signature.
• The option to schedule a vacation message to begin and end on specific dates.
• Advanced email filtering, using new email rules to allow more specific filtering.

Webmail upgrade

A new version of webmail will be rolled out on the afternoon of Saturday, October 6. This version will provide speed improvements for navigating the webmail interface and also for sending email.

Webmail upgrade

A new version of webmail has been released. This version includes new features such as multiple task lists, improved spell checking, and a better HTML editor. The most noticeable change is the new menu system, which makes navigating the webmail interface more intuitive and improves access to RSS feeds.

Email security: Preventing abuse of the SMTP server

Serious measures are taken to keep abusive users off of our email hosting system and to keep our system out of the anti-spam blacklists. Monitoring systems detect when a customer tries to send out a bulk mailing, and cuts it off before it is too late.

Our mail server IP addresses are checked against all known anti-spam blacklists hourly. In the rare case that one becomes blacklisted, immdediate action will be taken to diagnose and stop whatever caused the blacklisting to occur. During this time, the IP address that was blacklisted will be removed from use so that no outgoing mail is sent from it. Once the issue has been resolved, we contact the blacklisting organization in order to get the IP address removed from the blacklist.

Email security: Preventing directory harvest attacks

A directory harvest attack (DHA) is an attempt by a malicious person to find out the email addresses that exist within a domain. Spammers do this by sending a series of connections to a SMTP server pretending to deliver mail to a large quantity of randomly selected name combinations, and collecting the responses from the server. The SMTP responses normally indicate whether or not each email address exists, thus allowing a spammer to compile a list of valid email addresses.

We protect customers from Directory Harvest Attacks by automatically disconnecting spammers who send mail to too many invalid recipients. Subsequent connections are then throttled so that the spammer cannot establish new connections at a rapid rate. This renders Directory Harvest attempts useless and greatly reduces the chances of your email address ending up on a bulk mailing list.

How we detect spam: part 1

Weighted Spam Testing

There are two important factors to consider when dealing with spam:

• No single test can identify all spam
• Some tests will falsely identify legitimate email as spam

For these reasons, no single test can be allowed to cause an email to be flagged as spam. Instead, multiple tests are used in conjunction by means of a weighting system, each test being assigned a point value. When an individual test fails, that point value is added to the overall weight. If the total weight of the email is greater than a certain threshold, the email is flagged as spam. Each customer can set their own spam filtering sensitivity level, which is then used in the weighting equation.

How we detect spam: part 2

Spam "DNA"

Each day, thousands of spam samples are collected through the use of dummy mailboxes ('spam traps') as well as data submitted by customers via the "Blacklist Sender" button within WebMail. Spam messages are normalized to remove content obfuscation and then broken down into identifiable components, which are used to code the DNA. Spam DNA is similar to anti-virus "fingerprints" and can accurately identify most spam based on specific content found in spam emails. When a match is found, spam points are added to the email.

How we detect spam: part 3

Zombies, Open Relays, and Known Spam Sources

A "zombie" is a computer that has been taken over by a spammer, and which is used to send out bulk mailings without the computer owner knowing. Normally this occurs because the computer owner opened a virus, which gave a spammer a back door into their system. This is one of the most common sources of spam.

Another prevalent source of spam is "open relays" ... insecure mail servers that can be used freely by spammers. Spammers use automated tools to scour the Internet in search of vulnerable mail servers, and then hijack those servers to increase the amount of spam they can send.

To combat this problem, there are several third-party organizations that maintain databases ("blacklists") that list the IP addresses of these compromised machines. There are also databases that list known professional spammers. We have arrangements with approximately 15 of these organizations, so that our system can download full copies of the blacklists hourly and incorporate them into the weighted spam filtering system. When an email arrives from a blacklisted IP address, spam points are added to the email.

How we detect spam: part 4

Dealing with spam

Once a spam email has been identified, there are several actions that occur based on user preferences:

1. Delete the email
   In this case, you will never see the spam
2. Deliver to Spam folder
   This allows you to review the emails that have been tagged as spam. This folder can be viewed from WebMail or IMAP, and settings are available to automatically purge old spam from this folder after a certain number of days or number of emails
3. Tag the subject
   The word "[SPAM]" will be added to the beginning of the subject line, and then delivered normally. This allows you to set up custom filtering rules inside of your desktop mail program, such as Microsoft Outlook.
4. Deliver to an alternate email address
   This is useful if a company wants to have a single administrator review all of the spam that their users receive.

How we detect spam: part 5

Avoiding False-Positives

Every effort is made to ensure that legitimate email is never falsely identified as spam (aka "false-positives"). To prevent this, several filtering tests have been incorporated which are designed with the reverse approach of identifying characteristics found in legitimate email, instead of identifying spam. These tests work in conjunction with the weighting system to help eliminate false-positives.

Safe Lists

A small number of false-positives are unavoidable. To solve this problem, you can specify trusted email addresses that should always bypass the filtering system. This feature should be used when specific email sometimes gets identified as spam, such as opt-in newsletters or emails from colleagues whose mail servers are blacklisted or configured improperly.