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Reporting Spam to ZSD

ZSD has a service for reporting spam. Users can send spam that they have received to a special spam reporting address as described below. We use these messages in our efforts to improve our anti-spam filters.

Spam Reporting Address

ZSD provide an e-mail address to which users can send reports of spam. This address is "spam@zsd.co.za". Please note the following with regards to spam reports:

• We need the Full Internet Headers of the offending messages. Without these headers your reports are of little use to us and they will often just be deleted. Instructions on how to report spam with full internet headers are below.
• Please do not send spam reports to any other address at ZSD. If they don't get bounced by our anti-spam filters, they just clog up our ticketing sytems. Invariably the full headers get lost and we end up deleting them.

• If you want to bring a spam problem to our attention, please submit samples of the spam, as described below, then send an e-mail support@zsd.co.za describing the problem and mentioning that sample spam has been sent to our reporting system.

• Please do not send mail, other than spam reports, to our spam report address.

How to Report Spam with Full Internet Headers

In order for ZSD to use your spam for updating our filters we need to be able to see the "Internet Headers" of the reported messages. These are usually lost when forwarding a message. Different mail clients have different means of forwarding messages, with all of the headers. The following one works with most modern desktop mail clients:

1. Set the size of your e-mail program so that it is not "maximized'. Ie it only occupies a portion of your desktop, not the whole desktop. It should also not be "mimimized" - ie not just an icon in your task bar.
2. Open your "inbox" where the offending spam message is listed.

3. Create a new blank message. Address it to "spam@zsd.co.za". You should also put something descriptive in the subject line. The size of the new message window should also occupy just part of your desktop.

4. Drag the spam message from your inbox over the new message that you have created. The message should be added as an attachment to the new message. This attachment will be sent with all the internet headers.
5. Repeat the above if you want have multiple spam messages in your inbox that you would like to report.
6. Send the final message to ZSD.

How many messages should you report?

• Ideally we would like one sample of spam of each type/sender/spammer from each reporter.
• If you get multiple identical, or similar, spam from the same spammer, please only send one report.
• Please do not forward every spam you get in your inbox. That just leads to duplication and overload.

Privacy Considerations

Any mail you submit to our spam reporting system will contain you own e-mail address and it may contain other personal information.

• Please do not submit any messages as spam if they contain any information that you regard as personal.
• Submission of messages to our spam reporting system will be construed as you having given permission for us to use all of the information in that message in the construction and development of anti-spam systems.
• Messages we receive may be forwarded on to other parties who are actively involved in fighting spam.
• If a representative of the bulk mailer requests evidence from ZSD that our users regard their messages as spam, we may forward them copies of spam that has been submitted to our reporting system. However we will endeavour to either remove personal information from those reports, or get permission from the reporting party beforehand.
• Notwithstanding the above, mistakes can happen and this information may be inadvertently "leaked". For example it could be leaked by 3rd party that we have forwarded the reports to. Thus we cannot accept any liability for the inadvertent release of any personal information contained in messages reported as spam.

Spam reports filtered by ZSD's spam filters

The spam reporting address is white listed from ZSD's spam filters. However it is not white listed from our anti-virus filters. Thus the mail should be accepted by ZSD, even though it contains obvious spam. However sometimes our anti-virus filters identify spam report messages that are actually "spam" as "viruses" and bounce them. This is an unavoidable side effect. If you pick up this problem on regular, recurring basis, please forward the bounce message to ZSD so that we can investigate.

How do we use spam reports

ZSD may use your spam reports as follows:

1. To keep track of the type and volume of spam received by our users.
2. As a reference to determine what kinds of mail our users regards as spam.
3. As examples to justify our policies to block various sources of mail as spam.
4. As samples to investigate specific "waves" of spam.
5. As samples to investigate and test new anti-spam technologies.
6. As a mechanism for getting specific spam reports from clients.
7. For training "automatic learning" anti-spam software.
8. The reported messages are kept in a database for a period of time (typically 2 years), although some reports may be kept for longer periods.
9. Messages which lack internet headers, duplicate samples of the same spam and messages which are not useful for the above purposes are deleted.
10. ZSD will NOT attempt to "unsubscribe" you from the spammer's database.