As fallout from our recent phishing attack, some of our user accounts were compromised. These accounts were subsequently used to initiate spam messages. As a result, Temple University has been placed on several Real-time Blackhole Lists (RBL), which is a list of known IP Addresses that engage in SPAM activities. This causes many sites to reject our legitimate email because they use one of many RBL services to check our status. If we are on the RBL that they use, then they reject our email.

Our email server team is working diligently with the RBLs to remove us from the lists as we discover them. It is difficult to determine which RBLs we are on and because different recipients’ email servers use different RBLs, we cannot fix the problem with a single contact. As we learn of our placement on an RBL, we work towards having our IP addresses removed. Some RBLs will do this immediately while others wait until there is proof we are no longer sending out spam. Temple University has no direct control on whether or not or when we are removed from an RBL.

I realize this is an inconvenience to many of our users and I assure you that we will do everything possible to quickly repair the damage that was caused by the criminal activity perpetrated against us.

In the meantime, if you have any questions regarding email, please contact the Help Desk at 215-204-8000 or help@temple.edu.