My posts | Why use webmail if it's not secure?

So the UvA has gone ahead and replaced some trusty open source software with less open source variants. This, in itself, is not that bad. What is bad however is that this new webmail interface assumes a few things which I do not entirely like. In this post I describe these minor annoyances, and propose a solution.

The assumptions:

• I like to sign my mails with the name "Rooij, O. de". This cannot be changed either, since it is automatically pulled from the administration department.
• I like to never log out! As you can see from the following screenshot I took:
  
  
  which in essence means that if I'm in an internet cafe, one of those places where you actually might have to resort to webmail, the security is placed on the shoulders of said cafe. And we all know we can trust them, right? Microsoft at least does. I wonder, how difficult is it again to just expire a session server side? Ought to be just a oneliner in PHP, right? Hmm...

Of course I immediately opened support tickets for both of these minor annoyances, and got replies which might be freely interpreted as 1) go to the GBA and request them to change my first name into my last name, and the other way around to solve the naming problem, and 2), to quote "In sommige internetcafe's zijn de mogelijkheden voor gebruikers inderdaad dusdanig dichtgetimmerd, dat alleen een stroomonderbreking soelaas zou kunnen bieden." .. sooo okay: short circuit your internet cafe after visiting webmail. That ought to be the safest and most friendly solution indeed! ;-)

Anyway to prevent me from letting me take this more time than required, I've gone ahead and reinstalled Squirremail for UvA, using Exchange as the backbone, so I can now use my very own nostalgic webmail interface from now on. (small letters: this actually does work, but I have not tested it for security etc. etc. , and https is not yet enabled. Only use when you implicitly trust me, my server, and the network you're on)

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