Email Security Initiative

In September 2021, OIT announced a new Email Security Initiative to proactively address an increasing frequency in malicious attacks worldwide. Attacks on email systems, like phishing, account compromises, malware injections and data breaches can have a significant impact on the targeted victims, and the intent is to minimize UCI’s vulnerabilities to potential attacks by implementing strategic improvements. A number of short term and long term projects are planned under this Email Security Initiative umbrella for the entire campus.

Risks include: Compromised email accounts Malicious email messages Weak encryption Legal non-compliance

Impact includes: Email information disclosure and data breach Social engineering attacks made easier “from the inside” Business Email Compromise (BEC) scams Phishing and stealing passwords Malware/ransomware infecting systems leading to data exfiltration or destruction

 

Initiative	Description	Status
Disabling of Insecure Legacy Protocols	Turning off old, insecure email protocols used to access Gmail and O365 by email apps	Complete
Enforcement of Multi-Factor Authentication	Integrating Duo multi-factor authentication with UCI’s Gmail and O365	Complete
ES Mail Retirement	Decommissioning ES Mail (aka Webmail) and migrating existing users to enterprise-grade, secure email systems	Complete
School-operated ES Mail Retirement	Working with School IT to migrate their population to cloud-based services	In Progress
Mailman to Google Groups Migration	Mailman is going end-of-support, moving to secure & up to date alternative with cloud-based Google Groups	In Progress
Advanced Email Content Protection – Proofpoint Phase 1	Filter inbound mail to uci.edu, exchange.uci.edu, alumni.uci.edu with improved malware, spam, and phishing protection	Complete
Proofpoint Phase 2	Enable URL Defense and self-service spam quarantine/digest features	Complete
Proofpoint Phase 3	Filter inbound mail to all other decentralized UCI subdomains	Complete
Proofpoint Phase 4	Automate phishing reporting and response with PhishAlarm and CLEAR	In Progress
Proofpoint Phase 5	Enable threat response auto-pull feature for O365 and Gmail delivery points	Complete
Proofpoint Phase 6	Filter all outbound mail, enforce DMARC/SPF/DKIM	In Progress
Address Forwarding Risk	Address policy around automatic email forwarding to personal accounts	Planned
Address Retiree/Alumni Risk	Address policy around Duo multi-factor authentication for retiree and alumni accounts	Planned