Proofpoint Email Protection - University of Houston
Skip to main content

University Information Technology

Email Account

Proofpoint Email Protection

Overview

The Proofpoint Messaging Security Gateway (Proofpoint Protection Server) enforces anti-spam, anti-virus, and file filtering policies for our Exchange mailboxes. All incoming email is inspected by Proofpoint Protection Server as soon as it arrives at UH email servers.

Messages that are identified as being spam are sent to your personal Spam Quarantine.

You will receive an email notification from Do_Not_Reply@tld.com with a subject of End User Digest in your Inbox to let you know when you have messages in the Quarantine.

Release Messages from the Quarantine - Email Digest

The email Digest displays messages that have been classified as spam. These messages are stored in your personal Quarantine for 14 days, allowing you to determine how to handle future messages from the senders – either allow the messages to be delivered or block them.  After 14 days, message will be delete from your personal Spam Quarantine.

The Action you take on these messages determines how future messages from the senders will be handled.

Personal Lists for Safe Senders and Blocked Senders

  • The Safe Senders list is simply a list of approved senders of email. When a sender address is included in the Safe Senders list, the Proofpoint Protection Server does not filter the message for spam. Messages will still be filtered for a virus.
  • A Blocked Senders list contains addresses of people or mailing lists from whom you do not wish to receive email.
    • To mark an email address as safe, simply click the Allow Sender link next to the appropriate email message in the Digest. To mark an email address as blocked, click the Block Sender link for the message.
    • To see your list of personal Safe Senders or Blocked Senders, click the Request Safe/Blocked Senders link in your email Digest.
  • Click the Manage My Account link in your Digest to create a list of Safe Senders or Blocked Senders. A web browser opens, allowing you to add or edit your lists.

When you add a domain name (e.g., yahoo.com) to the Safe Senders list, all email addresses from that domain will be considered “safe.” You should restrict the safe list to specific senders by entering their full email addresses (for example, john.doe@yahoo.com).

Proofpoint digest example 

  • Each time you select Release, the message is delivered to your Inbox.
  • Each time you select Release and Allow Sender, the email is released and the address from that sender is added to your personal Safe Senders list.
  • Each time you select Block Sender, the address from that sender is added to your personal Blocked Senders list.
  • Request New End User Digest – sends you the latest Digest, which contains the last 14 days of messages that have been delivered to your personal Spam Quarantine.
  • To manage your personal Safe/Blocked Senders list, click the Request Safe/Blocked Senders List
  • To manage your preferences from the Web Application, click the Manage My Account link.

Release Messages from the Quarantine - Web Application

Clicking on the Manage My Account link in the email Digest (shown on the previous page), will open the End User Web Application.

The illustration below provides an example of the End User Web Application – it displays in a browser.

Lists for Safe Senders and Blocked Senders

  • The Safe Senders list is simply a list of approved senders of email. When a sender address is included in the Safe Senders list, the Proofpoint Protection Server does not filter the message for spam. Messages will still be filtered for a virus.
  • A Blocked Senders list contains addresses of people or mailing lists from whom you do not wish to receive email.

After you log in to the Web Application, you can decide how to handle future messages from each sender:

  • Release the selected message(s) from the Quarantine and allow future messages from the sender(s) to be delivered – select the message(s) and click Allow Sender.
  • Delete the selected message(s) from the Quarantine and block future messages from the sender(s) to be delivered to your Inbox – select the message(s) and click Block Sender.

Proofpoint digest web app

  • The currently-selected folder in the left pane displays messages in that folder.
  • The Options menu in the menu bar provides the following choices:
    Request Digest – this choice sends you the latest email Digest.
    Refresh     – refreshes the right pane. If you use the Delete All choice, use Refresh to display more messages.
    Delete All     – deletes the currently-displayed messages from your personal Quarantine.
  • Select Lists in the left pane to add senders to your personal Safe Senders and Blocked Senders lists.

 

Proofpoint FAQ

  • I want to receive all of my email, spam or not. Can I opt out of using Proofpoint services?

    No. All incoming emails sent to an "@uh.edu" address are filtered by the ProofPoint protection server.

  • End User Digest in Proofpoint

    Messages that are identified as spam are sent via the ProofPoint email protection server to your personal Spam Quarantine and an End User Digest email message will be sent to in your mailbox. The Digest provides you with a list of the messages addressed to you that are stored in the Quarantine. You can look at the message subject headers to determine their content and decide what actions you want to apply to the messages.  

    You may also receive an empty Digest, which is simply an email message indicating that you have no messages in the Quarantine. You may want to receive a Digest even if it doesn’t contain any messages, so you can continue to manage certain aspects of your email. The system administrator decides whether or not users should receive an empty Digest. 

  • How do I delete my messages in the Quarantine?

    There is no need to delete your messages in the Quarantine. 

    After 14 days the ProofPoint protection server will delete the messages from your personal Quarantine. 

  • What is a spam policy?

    Spam policies determine how the spam sent to you will be processed. For example, your spam could be deleted or quarantined. All incoming email for faculty, staff and students with an "@uh.edu" address is scanned and inspected via the ProofPoint protection server.

     

  • Email filtering using Proofpoint

    All incoming email with an "@uh.edu" address is filtered by the Proofpoint Protection Server. Depending upon Proofpoint Protection Server rules and policies, messages that contain a virus, or spam, or inappropriate content can either be deleted or “scored.” In the case of spam, the message score indicates the probability that the message is spam – so a message scoring 100 would have 100% chance of being spam (definite spam) and a message scoring 0 would have 0% chance of being spam (legitimate correspondence). Messages scoring high enough to probably be spam are quarantined, and messages scoring below 50 are sent directly to your inbox. 

  • Why do I get a warning message when I click on links in the Digest?

    It is normal to see an “Invalid Certificate” warning when clicking on the links in the Digest. You can safely accept the certificate warning and continue. 

    If the Digest links have expired, you will be prompted to log in to the Web Application to manage messages in the Quarantine. 

  • What is a Safe Senders and Blocked Senders list?

    There are two types of Safe Senders lists: the Organization Safe Senders List and your personal Safe Senders List. Both are simply lists of legitimate senders of email.  The email administrator controls the Organization Safe Senders List, which applies to everyone in the organization. You control your personal Safe Senders List to which you can add the addresses of people, organizations, and mailing lists from which you do want to receive mail. 

    If a sender's address is included in the Safe Senders List, the Proofpoint Protection Server does not filter the message for spam. (However, it still filters the message for a virus or inappropriate content.) 

    There is also an Organization Blocked Senders List and a personal Blocked Senders List. These lists contain addresses of people, organizations, and mailing lists from which you do not want to receive “junk email.” 

  • Proofpoint email account options

    Yes.  click the Manage My Account link in the Digest. A separate browser window pops up on your screen and your personalized account management page will load in this window. 


  • I am an Alumni and I no longer want to get UH End User Digest. What can I do?

  • How do I access my quarantined emails?

    To access these features, click the Manage My Account link in the End User Digest. A separate browser window pops up on your screen and your personalized account management page will load in this window. View the attachment for detailed instructions.