Proofpoint: Email Protection
Jan. 19, 2021
During this time of virtual living and working, phishing scams are rampant across the world. In an effort to help protect user accounts and data, ITS will be enabling Proofpoint email protection to faculty and staff accounts on Thursday, Jan. 21. Please review the information below to learn more about Proofpoint.
As a reminder, Proofpoint has been available to the Brandeis community for the past year or so. There are approximately 350 faculty and staff who have enrolled in the program as early adopters. If you’re already enrolled in Proofpoint, there is no change to your account.
What is Proofpoint?
Proofpoint serves as an additional layer of protection to your account. Proofpoint safeguards you and your email in two ways. First, the email filtering system will automatically determine if an email is spam (e.g., marketing, cold sales, etc.) or bulk (e.g., newsletters, other mass mailings, etc.) and will quarantine the message(s). By default, spam email is automatically filtered (per ITS Security requirement). You can, optionally, enable the bulk email filter that identifies messages from mass mailings (e.g., newsletter). You can control what reaches your mailbox including the ability to manage lists of allowed and blocked addresses.
In addition to email filtering, Proofpoint provides security protection for all website links in an email message. When clicking on a URL, it will pass through Proofpoint’s layer of security to verify if it is a known malicious link; if deemed to be safe, the site will load as expected. The use of Proofpoint URL protection works seamlessly and in the background for all users.
How does it work?
Proofpoint safeguards you and your email in two ways. First, the email filtering system will automatically determine if an email is spam (e.g., marketing, cold sales, etc.) or bulk (e.g., newsletters, other mass mailings, etc.) and will quarantine the message(s). By default, spam email is filtered with the option to also filter bulk email. In addition, you can control what bulk email reaches your mailbox including the ability to manage lists of allowed and blocked addresses. A secondary layer of protection, Proofpoint will scan any link(s) to a website within an email message to determine whether the site is known to be malicious and add a layer of security encryption to the URL. Once enabled, you will receive a daily digest at 8 a.m. ET containing any message(s) that have been filtered as spam or bulk (if enabled).
When will I receive my first email digest?
You will receive your first Proofpoint email digest when spam email directed to you has been filtered and quarantined. It may take several days or even weeks to receive your first digest. The frequency of receipt of a digest will vary for each user; this is not an indication that your account does not have email protection.
What does Proofpoint look like?
Proofpoint Email Digest
Proofpoint Web Digest
Where can I learn more?
Visit the email protection webpage which includes getting started guides and video tutorials for email digest, web digest, and FAQs. If you have any questions about Proofpoint and general security practices, please contact security@brandeis.edu.