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UTORmail: Enhanced Security Network Access - FAQ November 2007 This document provides answers to frequently asked questions on the new enhanced security network access for all UTORmail customers who use a desktop email client. Webmail users already enjoy enhanced security network access. Frequently Asked Questions Will this change affect webmail users? No. Webmail users already enjoy enhanced security network access. Why are these changes needed? The UTORmail enhanced security network access provides many advantages. Please click on this link for the main reasons. Where are the configuration settings for the various email clients? Configuration settings for the main email clients used on campus are here. Will I still need to keep changing my e-mail preferences between work and home? No. The networks you use at home and at work can both send e-mail using the enhanced security network access settings, so no need to change your e-mail preferences. Will the enhanced security network access settings work from any network? Yes. Why can't I use my ISP's (i.e. Sympatico, Rogers, etc) SMTP server when I travel? All internet service providers (ISPs) make SMTP servers available to their customers. Unfortunately, they restrict use of those servers to computers that are on their networks. So, if you have configured your laptop to use your ISP's SMTP server when you are at home, you will not be able to send e-mail using that server when you travel, since you will be accessing it from a different network (a dial-up account, a hotel, a network at work, a wireless network, etc.). Why can't I just use the SMTP server of the hotel or wireless network where my computer is plugged in? Often it is not easy to find out the name of the SMTP server on a network where you are a visitor. With the enhanced security network access settings, you can set you e-mail preferences once, and never have to worry about outgoing e-mail again. We have had problems where UTORmail customers who are traveling and sending e-mail messages using a laptop connected to the local hotel internet connection. The local hotel's internet provider frequently blocks SMTP port 25, forcing the customer to send mail via the local hotel's internet provider post office. Sometimes this local hotel post office has been used by other hotel guests to send SPAM, so the hotel post office is on internet lists of offending post offices. This has resulted in the mail sent by the travelling UTORmail customer being treated as spam by UTORmail, by other university post offices, and by other post offices. By configuring the laptop e-mail software to use UTORmail's port 587, this problem is avoided because you will be sending your messages via the UTORmail post office, not the local hotel's post office. In addition, some world-wide post offices are beginning to frown on messages whose "From" address doesn't match the originating post office. For example, a UTORmail customer using a workstation at home to send messages whose "From" address is of the form firstname.lastname@utoronto.ca, and whose email software is configured to use the Sympatico or Rogers post office for sending mail, may find that some recipient post offices assess the message as having a higher probability of being spam. Again, sending mail via the UTORmail post office, by using port 587 avoids this issue. Why not just use Hotmail, MSN or Yahoo mail when I travel? The University has a responsibility to provide high-availability, functional, secure email services to the community. The Policy on Official Correspondence with Students and the policies associated with preserving and protecting official University transactions require that email services are best provided by internal organizations, that is, organizations whose network and equipment are within the University's domain and under the University's full operational control. In order to maintain the integrity of end-to-end control of email records that may be used for official correspondence with students, departments and individuals cannot establish contractual relationships for providing email services to their employees and students with off-network, off-campus, email service providers. Perhaps more significantly, legal and regulatory contraints that apply to the service provider must also be mitigated in such situations. For example, PATRIOT Act vulnerabilities may exist when contracting with US-based or US-related service providers. Such requirements can be inconsistent with the values, policies and legal obligations of the University. Will the enhanced security network access settings work with my older email client? As far as we know, only the following email clients will not work. Simeon, ECSmail, Eudora 5.0 and older, Netscape 4.X and older. Is more advanced technical information available? Yes, a more advanced FAQ for technical support staff the technically advanced and the curious is here. Additional Support For further help with the new UTORmail enhanced security network access settings, please contact the Information Commons Help Desk