1. Email Basics

2. Email
 Guidelines / etiquette
 Privacy
 Spam
 Hoaxes/chain letters

3. Guidelines / Etiquette

4. Basic Guidelines
 Length
 Be concise, to the point
 Use the subject line
 Senior Services rule – no complete client
names
 Read it carefully before sending it
 Be professional

5. Tone
 We all interact with the printed word as
though it has a personality and that
personality makes positive and negative
impressions on us
 Without immediate feedback your message
can easily be misinterpreted by your reader,
so it can be important to follow the basic
rules of etiquette to construct an appropriate
tone

6. Tone
 AVOID ALL CAPITAL LETTERS
 Humor, sarcasm – can be difficult to
convey and/or interpret
 Emoticons – use - sparingly :-)

7. Emoticons
:-) = Happy
:-( = Sad
;-) = Wink (sarcasm)
:-0 = yell

8. Identify Yourself
 Signature
 Full name
 Title
 Company
 Address
 Phone number
 Fax number

9. Replies and Forwarding
 Use the “reply to” or “reply to all” option
 Maintains a link to the original message
 Maintains “thread” of correspondence
 Forwarding message
 Not the same as replying
 Mail original message to someone other than the
sender
 Use caution when forarding private or sensitive
messages without the permission of the sender
 May be inappropriate to forward a portion of a
message

10. Using the “CC:” Field
 Carbon Copy
 Everyone in the “To” and “CC” fields are
visible
 “This email is not addressed to you,
you’re just getting a copy” (FYI)
 Can be overused
 “Reply to All” will be sent to everyone in
the “CC” and “To” fields

11. Using the “Bcc” field
 Blind Carbon Copy
 Conceals addresses from other
recipients
 Use for mass mailings
 No need for others to see list of recipients
 Will not receive a “Reply To” or “Reply
to All” message

12. Email Attachments
 Never open an unexpected attachment
 Even from someone you know
 Used to spread viruses
 Scan questionable attachments
 On demand scan / scan upon open
 When sending attachments, tell the recipient
 The name of the file
 The program it is saved in
 The version of the program

13. Etiquette - Flaming
 Verbal attack
 Not an appropriate use
 Ignore
 Steps to avoid
 Carefully read messages before sending
 Don’t send messages in all upper case
 Don’t send insulting email
 Don’t send mass-mailing advertisements

14. Privacy of Email

15. Privacy of Email
 Not a secure form of communication
 Don’t send secret or confidential information
 Credit card information
 Social security number
 Passwords
 More like a postcard than a sealed letter
 Think before you forward
 Do you have the sender’s permission?

16. Privacy of Email
 Subject to review with sufficient
justification
 Court order
 Evidence as part of an investigation
 Message may be mistakenly addressed
 Return message to sender and delete

17. When NOT to Communicate
Via Email
 Don’t send email of a sensitive or confidential
nature
 Don’t use email to communicate complaints
or dissatisfaction with someone
 Have a phone or face-to-face conversation with
the person
 Promotes 2-way communication
 If you find yourself responding more than 3
times on the same topic ~
 Have a phone or face-to-face conversation with
the person

18. Privacy of Email
 If you wouldn’t want it broadcast on the
6:00 news – don’t put it in an email!!

19. Hoaxes and Chain Letters

20. Purpose and Cost
 Send to everyone
 Messages true??
 Appeal to sense of good will
 Cost
 Time to read
 Stress placed on servers
 Spammers harvest email addresses
from hoaxes and chain letters

21. Cost of Hoaxes and Chain
Letters
 Send to 10 people
 They send to 10 people (100)
 They send to 10 people (1,000)
 They send to 10 people (10,000)
 They send to 10 people (100,000)
 …. They send to 10 people
“six degrees of separation”
 1,000,000 - 1 million people !

22. Examples

24. Hoax/Chain Letter Prevention
 Do NOT forward the message
 Sites used to check validity:
Snopes: http://www.snopes.com
Hoaxbusters:
http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/HBHoaxInfo.html
F-Secure:
http://www.f-secure.com/virus-info/hoax
McAfee: http://vil.nai.com/vil/hoaxes.aspx

25. Phishing
 Process by which someone obtains
private information through deceptive
or illicit means
 Used to falsely assume another
person’s identity
 Most commonly an email stating your
account information needs updating

26. Phishing Example

27. Phishing Example

28. Phishing Example

29. Phishing Example

30. Phishing Example

31. How Secure Do You Need to
Be?
 Be prudent not paranoid
 Did you initiate the action?
 Is the source trustworthy?
 Best thing to do is to type in the URL and check your
account directly without following any links in the
email
 Watch for URL’s that are numeric or different from
the link you clicked on
 Many legitimate emails no longer contain a link
(Paypal)
 When in doubt Google it

32. Spam

33. Spam
 Junk mail
 Unsolicited bulk mailings
 Overloads mailboxes
 20 - 90% of incoming traffic
 Adult content, health promotions, software offers,
investment ads, get-rich quick schemes
 Chain letters, hoaxes, jokes
 NEVER respond to spam!

34. Spam
 How they obtain email addresses:
 Posted on the web (chat, newsgroups, etc.)
 Web-based discussion boards
 Inappropriate sharing or sale of email addresses
 Companies not respecting user opt-out
preferences
 Signing up for “offers”
 Guessing (random generation)
 Stealing via malware

35. Spam
 Spammers hide true source of mail
 Misconfigured mail servers allow this
 Sign up for free accounts
 Spam scanning system
 Determines if each message is spam
 Point system
 Lists / libraries / keywords
 Blacklist / Whitelist
 {BULK} = may be spam

36. Senior Services Response to Spam
 Defining spam
 Difficult
 Did you sign up for weight-loss tips?
 Are you really interested in advancing your
degree on-line?
 Can’t block all sites
 Also include legitimate mail
 Barracuda spam firewall

37. Senior Services Response to Spam
Barracuda Spam Firewall
 Rate control
 Recipient verification
 Virus protection
 Fingerprint analysis
 Intent analysis
 Image analysis
 Spam rules scoring engine
 Policy (user-specified rules)

38. Senior Services Response to Spam
Barracuda Spam Firewall
 Allowed 25,059 since April 18
 Blocked 786,312
 152 viruses
 1,788 “tagged”
 96.5 % BLOCKED at senior services
 Normally 20 - 90% of incoming traffic

39. Senior Services Response to Spam
 Set up filters to sort spam messages
 Place in junk mail folder and then review

40. Senior Services Response to Spam
 Reporting spam
 jpugh@seniorservices1.Org

41. Other Methods to Reduce
Spam
 Contact your congressperson
 Be cautious when giving out your email
address
 Complain to the internet service provider
where the message originated
 Forward the message
 Abuse@domain_name (
abuse@seniorservices1.org, abuse@yahoo.com,
abuse@school.edu)

42. Summary
 Email is a valuable communication tool
 Sometimes – it is NOT the best or most
appropriate method of communication
 Follow the basic guidelines presented to
improve the quality of your
communications

43. Questions?
 Email: jpugh@seniorservices1.org
 Phone: 382-0515 ext. 122