Out of Office to the Internet Yes or NO!??

[jperleevt]

We are in a quandry. Currently we do NOT allow Out of Office Assistant to reply to external address. We are getting pressure to turn this 'feature' on. I was wondering what others are doing and why?

There isn't a way to do by person is there? Only way I figure is all or nothing. We have Exchange 2000.

Thanks for any input.

Jen

 

[Tezzie]

By default its turned off. Go to...
Exchange Manager
Global settings
Internet message format
right click on 'default' in the right pane
go to properties
click on the advance tab
tick the Allow Out Of Office responces


took me 2 weeks to figure it out!!
Tez

Backups are great but checking if you can restore is more fun.

 

[jperleevt]

..but once it is turned on its on for EVERYONE isn't it? Not everyone wants to have the Out of Office to go to external addess's, myself included.

 

[SESaskDFC]

Howdy jperleevt:

Not sure what you mean by having it go to an external address.. It will only go there IF you make a rule for that.. I think you really don't understand what the "Out of Office Assistant" is really about..

If you are connected to a Microsoft Exchange Server and plan to be out of the office for several days, you can have Outlook reply to all incoming mail with a polite automatic response. The incoming mail will sit in your inbox until you return and your correspondents won't think you are ignoring them...

IMHO, enable it.. Then, those that want to use it can and those that don't, won't have to if they don't want to. Just because it is enabled doesn't mean EVERYONE must use it !!!

Murray

 

[Marcs41]

These days, for spam reasons, you really should leave them turned off to the internet. If you get a spammail during absence, you just automatically confirm that your address is existing.
Same goes for NDR's. Turn them off or they will tell spammers which address is not valid and which is (the one that does not return an NDR).
That's how they get you. _{If 'something' 'somewhere' gives 'some' error, excpect random guesses or no replies at all. Please specify details.
Free Tip: The F1 Key does NOT destroy your PC! - Marc}

 

[jperleevt]

I do understand what Out of Office is. I use it all the time when I'm out BUT I do NOT want it to reply to the internet only locally. I have several users that do want it to reply to the internet as well as locally.

Am I making more sense?
What I'm trying to get is information about what other people are doing and why, like marcs41 comment about SPAM.

If we do turn on repling to the internet I just won't use OOA anymore.
Thanks
Jen

 

[lokiare1]

Theres one thing that you can do, go ahead and turn it on, and if someone spams you go through the spam mail and get the headers and using something like spamcop or another anti-spam site to find out who sent the email to you and request that they either be banned or that you be taken off the list. This has worked for me many times, very few people will allow themselves to get kicked off their isp's just to send junkmail. I recieve less than five emails daily in my public hotmail email due to this. I recieve no spam in my personal business email. also try using the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the spam mails this works about fourty five percent of the time, but they do stop spamming.

James Holloway
Web Design of Oklahoma, LLC
Web pages for beginners

http://www.webdesignoklahoma.com

 

[Marcs41]

The point I tried to make was, that if you turn it on, it does no matter who uses it, as soon as a spammer hits an address that has the OOA on, he will know the domain exists.
He is then free to start generating random usernames to your domain and once you're on a list it's hard to get off.

I understand very well that some people want to use it, but if you're in charge of IT and security, you should make it clear that security comes before 'handy'. _{If 'something' 'somewhere' gives 'some' error, excpect random guesses or no replies at all. Please specify details.
Free Tip: The F1 Key does NOT destroy your PC! - Marc}

 

[lokiare1]

Not really if you use something like spamcop or another anti-spam site they will send an email to the ISP and the person who sent the junk mail will have to remove you from their list or the isp will drop them. There have already been a number of lawsuits on this, ISP's won't even risk it nowadays, they don't ask any questions they just warn or drop the spammer. If your an IT securty person, then have all people forward their spam to you, go through the unsubscribes and spam-cop the ones without unsubscribes it's that simple. Also a recent law was passed that made it illegal to send unsolicited email without an unsubscribe or equivilant way to get off the list. All you have to do is threaten a law suit and they will drop any names that are on the list. Eventually people will stop sending you junkmail. Also there are many programs out there that will stop junkmail before it starts, check out

http://www.spamcop.com

and see what I mean

James Holloway
Web Design of Oklahoma, LLC
Web pages for beginners

http://www.webdesignoklahoma.com

 

[Marcs41]

Dream on.
Legite ISP's will do that, but most spammers hide their tracks. Beside, look at some of the addresses, it includes something like bounce@domain.com. If you bounce those, they bounce back.
Also, most spammers host their own mailserver at site who do not care, they actually trive on spam. You cannot stop them with antispam. All you can do is filter.
But, you will never stop the generated traffic and if you bounce, you even generate more.
And I know, I work at a security co. , we produce firewalls, antspam, antivirus and the likes, we handle those nasty things every single day. Spamfilters filter, and that is as far as you get.
The recent laws are all fine, we have them too, but trace the real die hard spammers IP (or mailserver) and you end up in some exotic country, no local laws will touch them there. _{If 'something' 'somewhere' gives 'some' error, excpect random guesses or no replies at all. Please specify details.
Free Tip: The F1 Key does NOT destroy your PC! - Marc}

 

[lokiare1]

Ok, your probably right if you work in the field. For the most part I've never had any problems getting someone to stop spamming me. Also for business purposes you really can't just leave that feature off. Especially if some of the other workers need it to be turned on. Spam is something you may just have to live with.

 

[Davetoo]

marcs41,

It's more than just a security vs handy issue. In our business, sales is fairly important, and if a customer e-mails a contact requesting a quote, or information, or anything, and that person is out for a week, a non-response is worse than me having to deal with blocking spammers. Our customers might just move on to the next supplier that does respond to their request for quote.