Encrypt email addresses
To encrypt an email address you must have a correctly formatted and working email address on your web page. (See email link in the How to section for best pracitice).
Encrypting email prevents spammers from accessing email addresses on your web page. Legitimate users (real people, not computers) can still see and use an email.
Encrypt email addresses: instructions (staff only)
People pages and individual staff pages
People pages and individual staff pages contain many of the email addresses on UC sites. A new system to generate these pages (People Publishing System - PPS) is plannned to to be built and rolled out in 2011/2012. It will automatically encrypt email addresses for you. (Note: PPS will only effect people pages ie pages with lists of people and contact details, and individual staff pages).
It is up to you and your department to decide if it is a good use of your time to encrypt email addresses on your people pages before PPS is rolled out.
Other pages in your site with email addresses
Each site is different. The first pages to check and encrypt email addresses are your home page, contacts page and other top level pages of your site. (Remember to check the right side and lower parts of pages too).
Then check the lower level pages on your site. (These are secondary and less affected by searches looking to harvest email addresses).
Should I encrypt every email address on every page in my site?
You need to encrypt each instance of an email address. If an email address appears more than once in your site, encrypting it once will reduce spam but the other instances can still be detected and harvested. Encrypting each instance of that address will (over time) prevent spammers harvesting it.
If an email address has spam sent to it how will encrypting help?
Email addresses are regularly searched for and harvested across the web. Lists are then on sold to spammers. Up to date lists are what spammers are after. Over time encrypted email addresses no longer appear on these lists and spam reduces.
When will I notice less spam?
This depends on how long someone has been a staff member at UC. Existing staff members may take 12-18 months to notice a reduction. Encrypting new staff members email addresses will hide them from spammers and reduce the problem.
How to encrypt email addresses
To encrypt an email address you must have a correctly formatted and working email address on your web page. (See email link in the How to section for best pracitice).