The following information is intended to provide you with a look at how email services are handled at Geneseo.Net. With ever-increasing traffic being generated from viruses and spammers, it has become necessary to implement new hardware into our network. The hardware being installed will go a long way in helping control spam and virus problems.

More users are converting from dial-up accounts to high-speed "always on" connections. With these high speed, "always on" conneections, it's MUCH easier for spam, spy-ware, ad-ware, viruses and other harmful code to make their way to your home and / or business computers.

Once the virus has embedded itself into a computer, with a high speed internet connection, it can send thousands of messages (which may simply be spam, or may contain a virus) in a matter of a few seconds, without your knowledge. When this happens, our mail server (any mail server as a matter of fact) will have problems and our mail service may be placed onto various "black lists". Once placed on a black list, mail is no longer accepted from Geneseo.Net.

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Email Settings
Whether using Outlook Express, Outlook, Eudora or other mail clients, you should use the following when setting up your email service:

* Incoming mail server is a POP3 server
* Incoming mail server: mail.geneseo.net
* Outgoing mail server: smtp.geneseo.net

Account name: your username. (e.g. if your email address is john@geneseo.net, your account name or username is likely John) There are special situations where this will not be the case. If you're unsure of what your username is, please contact our technical support.

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Outbound Mail Service

On December 21, 2005, Geneseo.Net implemented an outbound Virus/Spam firewall. All outbound is now routed through the firewall - also known as the "Barracuda Box". The diagram below shows how your outbound email messages will flow:

Next, lets step through each piece of the diagram above:

Your PC: Geneseo.Net customers send mail through us using one of two methods: A mail client on their personal PC (Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, etc.) or by utilizing our online webmail service. In either method, once the message is created and the SEND button is clicked, the message will be forwarded to our mail server.

Mail Server: Our mail server will only accept an outbound message if you're physically part of our network. If you're a DSL, dial-up, or leased line customer, or if you utilize our online webmail service, we will accept mail from you. Your message, once forwarded to our mail server will be subject to various conditions: (max number of recipients, maximum message size etc.) If these conditions are all OK, your message will be accepted by our mail server and will then be forwarded to the Barracuda Box.

Outbound Firewall: The Barracuda Box will examine the message for known viruses and spam characteristics. One of two things will occure at this point:

Option 1. The Barracuda box will SEND the message to it's intended recipient or
Option 2. The Barracuda box will REJECT the message and send a bounce message back tothe sender.

About Option 1: If the message is clean, the Barracuda Box will deliver the message to its intended recipient by forwarding the message to the intended recipient's mail server. Every ISP has their own criteria for accepting and rejecting messages. There is STILL A POSSIBILITY that your message will be rejected. IF the message is rejected at this point, it is being rejected by the intended recipients mail provider and NOT our outbound firewall. If this happens, you will see the following bounce message:

From: MAILER-DAEMON (Mail Delivery System)
Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2005 2:44 PM
To: youremail@address.com
Subject: Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender

This is the Spam Firewall at barracuda.geneseo.net.

I'm sorry to inform you that the message below could not be delivered.
When delivery was attempted, the following error was returned.

In this space will be a message containing the intended recipient's address
and the error message, if any, that was returned from the recipient's mail server.

------------------------------------------------
No Virus Found In This Message
Scanned at barracuda.geneseo.net

If you receive the above message, it means your message was rejected by the intended recipient's mail server and NOT by our outbound firewall.

About Option 2: If the message is found to contain a virus or is classified as spam, the Barracuda Box will reject it. When a message is rejected by the Barracuda Box, it will NEVER reach its intended recipient. Instead, it will generate a return message to the sender. The return message will be one of the following messages:

From: Geneseo.Net System Administrator 
Subject: Geneseo.Net ALERT: Banned File

Content:

BANNED FILENAME ALERT

Dear Geneseo.Net Customer:

Your message to: recipient email address
was blocked by our Spam Firewall. 

The email you sent with the following subject 
HAS NOT BEEN DELIVERED:

Subject: subject of the message

An attachment: filename :in that e-mail was of a file 
type that the Spam Firewall is set to block.

If you have any questions regarding this message
please contact our technical support at 944-8183.

Thank You
Geneseo Telephone Company

This message may be verified by visiting:
http://www.geneseo.net/htdocs/email/valid_messages.html

From: Geneseo.Net System Administrator 
Subject: Geneseo.Net ALERT: Spam

Content:

SPAM ALERT

Dear Geneseo.Net Customer:

Your message to: recipient email address
was blocked by our Spam Firewall. 

The email you sent with the following subject 
HAS NOT BEEN DELIVERED:

Subject: subject of the message

The message was processed against our spam firewall
and was found to be spam. If you feel this message 
has been blocked in error, please give our technical 
support a call at 944-8183 to we may quickly resolve
the issue.

If you have any questions regarding this message
please contact our technical support at 944-8183.

Thank You
Geneseo Telephone Company

This message may be verified by visiting:
http://www.geneseo.net/email/valid_messages.html

From: Geneseo.Net System Administrator 
Subject: Geneseo.Net ALERT: Virus Found

Content:

VIRUS FOUND IN OUTBOUND MESSAGE

Dear Geneseo.Net Customer:

Your message to: recipient email address
was blocked by our Spam Firewall. 

The email you sent with the following subject 
HAS NOT BEEN DELIVERED:

Subject: subject of the message

Our Spam Firewall detected a virus in this message.
Please check your system for viruses, or ask your 
system administrator to do so.

If you have any questions regarding this message
please contact our technical support at 944-8183.

Thank You
Geneseo Telephone Company

This message may be verified by visiting:
http://www.geneseo.net/htdocs/support.html

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Incoming Mail Service

Incoming messages are one of the biggest causes of computer infections. In our efforts to help combat some of these problems, we've implemented 2 inbound mail filtering processes. The diagram below shows the flow of all inbound mail:

The World: An internet user somewhere in the world sends you an email. Our MX (mail exchange) records direct all incoming mail to the first firewall filter - Postini.

Firewall 1 - Postini: Postini is the internet leader in blocking spam and viruses. ANY message sent to a customer of Geneseo Telephone will route through Postini. Messages will be subject to a variety of test to determine whether or not the message should be sent or blocked. All Geneseo.Net users can log into Postini to adjust settings and check their quarantined messages. Users will also receive messages from Postini which alert you to messages that have been blocked. The message will be similar to the following:

From: Geneseo Telephone Company Support 
Subject: Geneseo Telephone Company Detected Potential Virus

Content:


Dear your email address,

Geneseo Telephone Company's virus protection service has detected a potential
email virus. This suspicious message has been quarantined in
your Geneseo Telephone Company Message Center:

    From: emailaddress@somewhere.com
    Subject: Does it matter?
    Virus: W32/Netsky.p@MM

You can read the message without infecting your computer.
Click on the link to access your Geneseo Telephone Company Message Center:

    http://login.postini.com/exec/login?email=rjh@theinter.com

Thank You!
Geneseo Telephone Company

If the message passes all of the Postini screening, it will the be forwarded to our second incoming firewall.

Firewall 2 - Barracuda: Our second Barracuda box was implemented in early January and acts as a secondary virus and spam checker. Everything that is sent THROUGH Postini will now be checked by the Barracuda. By utilizing 2 different services and technologies, we're able to combat the virus and spam issue more aggressively and will likely stop more of these types of messages from reaching your inbox. The grand plan here is to stop virus infections from spreading throughout our network, thus eliminating network problems.

Mail Server: Once the message has passed all inspections by Postini and the Barracuda box, it will then be delivered to your mailbox on our mail server. Here it will wait for you to retrieve it with your email client.

Your PC: You will utilize a mail client (Outlook, Outlook Express, etc) to retrieve your mail from our server. You may also have your own virus protection software on your PC. If so, the messages will have to pass through the virus/spam screen process on your PC. Once they've passed, the message will be sent to the proper "inbox" on your system.