Proofpoint Email Security

Proofpoint is the university's email security service. Proofpoint is a leader in anti-spam, anti-virus, and enterprise protection. 4 of the top 5 US retailers and all 5 of the top US banks use Proofpoint. 

Proofpoint works in three different ways to help protect us against malicious email. 

• First, Proofpoint scans and blocks emails coming from known malicious senders. It also guards against impostor attacks (those emails made to look like it comes from a supervisor or other trusted individual). It quarantines suspicious email and lets you decide whether it should be delivered or not.
• Proofpoint also includes a feature known as URL defense. When a link is included in a message sent to you, the link is rewritten so that Proofpoint can compare the link against its database of known malicious sites. If the link is to a malicious site, Proofpoint will block access. For example, if you receive an email that contains a link, if you hover your mouse over the link you will see that the link is rewritten to start with https://urldefense.proofpoint.com. This lets you know that if you click on the link you’ll go through the URL defense service before being sent to the final address. If the link is found to be malicious, you will see a message that access to the web site has been blocked.
• Finally, Attachment Defense will help block malicious attachments. When an attachment is sent to you from an address other than a ben.edu account, Proofpoint will scan the attachment for viruses and other malicious payloads. If there is a virus or other malicious payload within the attachment the message will not be delivered. Note that the scanning of the attachment may delay the receipt of the message for up to 8 minutes (that’s the amount of time Proofpoint has been given to scan). 

You will receive a User Digest each day listing the messages that Proofpoint has quarantined or blocked. Please review the list of messages appearing in the User Digest to ensure that no legitimate email has been blocked. You can also manage your settings via the Proofpoint web site.