4.12.1—The SPAM FAQ
SoVerNet Spam Controls |
Expanding Headers, Anti-Spam Software, & more |
Using the Spam Controls |
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What spam
software does SoVerNet use?
The filtering software we use was originally based on OpenSource software, called SpamAssassin <http://spamassassin.org/>.
However, it has been heavily customized and augmented by other code, so can not really be considered an example of SpamAssassin anymore.
How do the filters
work?
Messages are assigned a point value depending on various factors, such as
number of recipients, whether there are Blind Carbon Copy (BCC) recipients,
whether the "Reply To:" address matches the "From:" address,
and whether the return address is part of a domain that is notorious for spamming.
Messages with a higher point value get blocked, and those with a lower value
get delivered to your INBOX. Messages from your list of rejected addresses
have extra points added to them, and those from your list of Accepted addresses
have points taken off. You can use the Spam Controls site to fine-tune your
settings.
Where are the Spam
Controls, and what are the options?
Our spam filters are accessed via the Spam Control buttons on our main webpage,
the Account Tools page (http://www.sover.net/tools/,
and elsewhere on our website, or access
directly.
On the Spam Controls page, you can pick the level of filtering you want, then fine-tune the settings in the "Advanced Settings" area if you wish to customize them. The 3 levels are: Basic, Strong, Extreme, with Basic being the default level at which all email accounts are initially set. We suggest you stay with the default level (ie: Basic), perhaps using the Advanced Settings page for minor adjustments (such as number of hits or where suspected spam is sent). As you feel the need to increase the strength of your filtering, move from one level to the next, tweaking the settings at each level until they no longer suffice. (Note: If you switch from level to level via the Quick Config section (using the radio buttons to select another level) you’ll need to recreate your lists
as they’ll not move from level to level.
To make a backup copy:
If
you need to recreate your lists, the new Reject & Accept lists still need
a one-at-a-time entry, so just copy each address, and paste into the appropriate
spot. Again, this will not be necessary unless you switch from level to level
in the new Controls.)
If you do not want your mail filtered at all, you may OPT-OUT of the filtering
process (turn filtering off via the Spam Control page).
Suspected spam is moved,
by default, to the SPAM folder—you’ll find it in the "folder" popup-menu in the upper left corner of the Web Email screen. You can change
the setting to deliver spam to your inbox for downloading to your machine
for further sorting, or set it to delete all spam immediately. See settings
info below.
Be sure to click the "Save changes" button after any alterations
to your settings. Just quitting the page won’t cause the changes to be saved.
Then logout using the "logout" button above the settings options
after the screen redraws.
Here’s a run-down of the 3 levels and their defaults:
First some explanation of terms. Each of these can be changed via the Advanced Options page.
“Hits” (points) —Emails
are assigned a point for every attribute that resembles attributes commonly
found in junk mail (e.g., HTML in the body of the message). The default setting
at the Basic level is 5. Any email scoring above the specified valuewill be
sent to your SPAM folder.
“External blacklists”—Several
3rd party companies and cooperatives maintain lists of specific subject lines,
email addresses or points of origin which have been determined to be sources
of spam. The default is “Check External Lists”
“Razor”—a
collaborative spam detection and filtering network. The default setting
is “Yes”
“Bayes”—The
“naive-Bayesian-style classifier” uses a mathematical analysis of
words common to junk email to identify potential spam. The default setting
is “Yes”
Much spam is foreign in origin and/or contains non-Western charatcer
sets. The Basic level of filtering errs on the side of caution by allowing
emails written in any language and using any character set. If using the Stron
or Extreme level, you can use the Advanced page to add or remove languages
and charater sets as necessary for you. These advanced options do not act
to remove a selection, just to add selections back in to a Strong or Extreme
default setting.
BASIC LEVEL
This is the default level of filtering. Our in-house tests have found
these filters to be remarkably effective, catching up to 99% of all spam.
The risk of legitimate mail being filtered is relatively low.
Quick Summary of BASIC default settings:
STRONG
The Strong level of filtering implements some rules not used in the Basic
filters and has a lower threshold for determining whether or not a message
is considered spam. Accordingly, there is a risk that some legitimate emails,
especially those that are foreign in origin, will be filtered. We suggest
that you review the descriptions above and make changes via the Advanced Options
page.
We also suggest that you add to your Accept List addresses of those whose
mail you do not want to risk losing. This list can be set up and maintained
via the Advanced Options page. Keep a backup of your lists! if you change
your level of filtering, you may find it necessary to recreate your address
lists.
Quick Summary of STRONG default settings:
EXTREME
The Extreme level of filter has very broad filtering rules which will catch almost
all spam sent to your address. This setting also has the potential, however,
to filter a considerable amount of legitimate email. We suggest that you review
the rules above and make changes to suit your needs.
As with the Strong level setting, we suggest that you add to your Accept List
addresses of those whose mail you do not want to risk losing. This list can
be set up and maintained via the Advanced Options page. Keep a backup of your
lists! if you change your level of filteing, you may find it necessary to recreate
your address lists.
Quick Summary of EXTREME default settings
A lot of spam also originates from large national ISPs or free email providers. Spammers sign up for “disposable” accounts at these domains using false identities, send their junk email and then allow the accounts to be closed. Accordingly, the Extreme level of filtering filters email from the domains shown above.
ADDRESS LISTS
In addition to the above
settings, you can also enter addresses to both an Accept List and a Reject
List. Addresses on your Accept List will never be classed as spam, while those
on your Reject list will always be classed as spam. Both lists let you make
use of the asterisk as a wild-card, and you can remove addresses from each
as well. Once you’ve made any changes here, be sure to click on the “Save
Changes” button at the bottom of the page, and then click “Logout” to complete the process and save the changes. Note: If you subscribe
to any email lists or have friends or family with addresses from larger companies
(i.e. AOL, Hotmail, Yahoo), you may want to add their address to your Accept
List as soon as possible. This will ensure that you will not miss messages
from them.
The Controls page has boxes and “Add”/“Remove” buttons
to facilitate configuring your address lists. The forms require that your
browser have javascript enabled (Edit>Preferences), but you can use the Non-Javascript Control button if you prefer not to enable JS. The Non-JS
page will show the addresses in your lists, with checkboxes to the left, and
a note as to which list the address is on.
To add names, pick Accept or Reject from the popup menu at the top, type in the name and click “Add”.
To remove, click the checkboxes of the addresses youwant to remove (multiple selections work), scroll down to the bottom, and click the “Remove” button.
You can also use the Non-Javascript
Control to make a backup copy of your lists:
Note: If you switch from level to level via the Quick Config section (using
the radio buttons to select another level) you’ll need to recreate your lists
as they’ll not move from level to level.
To make a backup copy:
If you need to recreate your lists, the new Reject & Accept lists still need a one-at-a-time entry, so just copy each address, and paste into the appropriate spot. Again, this will not be necessary unless you switch from level to level in the new Controls.)
Alternatively, to add and remove addresses from your Accept/Reject Lists there is the Wizard:
Auto-select Addresses with the Wizard
One additional feature of the Controls page is the option you have to display a list of messages received, and choose whether or not that message is considered spam. Any messages you check off to “Accept” or “Reject” (via check boxes in the columns to the left of the addresses) will have their “from” addresses added to your Reject list automatically. You may also use this feature to add to your Accept list.
The Wizard shows you how it has classified your mail (columns to the right of the addresses, and if acceptable to you, you probably don’t need to tell it what to do with future mail from that address.
Subject Filtering
If the Subject: line of a message contains a word that is in your subject
filter, it will be flagged as spam and filtered accordingly. Using this option,
you can add words and phrases that you want to be used to filter out objectionable
emails. Before adding to the subject filtering list, consider carefully, as
you might inadvertently filter out mail you want. For example, large quantities
of spam are sent with medications or the word “prescription” listed
in the Subject: line. If you order medicines online, your online pharmacy
’s mail might also be filtered if they too list a medication or the word ’prescription’
in their mail’s Subject: line.
How come,
when I check my Spam Folder, there are more messages in it than the limit I
set?
The server is set to delete spam folder contents once a day, so there may be
times when it actually contains more mail than you defined. When the delete
time comes, messages will be removed to the limit specified.
Why do
I have to check the SPAM folder? Why can’t I just ignore it all?
Unfortunately, filtering is not an exact science. Many of the more prolific
spammers constantly raise the bar by finding ways to evade filtering systems.
It is almost inevitable that some messages will get through both the filter
AND the Reject List. And, conversely, that some of your wanted email will end
up in the SPAM folder for no fault of its own! There are a couple of reasons
for this:
You need to
check the folder to be sure the controls are set optimally for you—that your
legitimate email isn’t being miscategorized—and to delete the accumulation
of spam to prevent reaching your quota and blocking your normal email delivery.
Note that stored spam takes up some of your email quota space, so you’ll want
to keep that folder as empty as possible and not allow too much to accumulate.
NOTE: If you really are
certain you want to delete suspected spam without ever reviewing it, select “Discard permanently” in option 1. We recommend you test the filters
for a while before doing this though as some legitimate mail may be lost.
Spam that gets through to your INBOX is easy enough to deal with, just delete
it. But legitimate email can get moved to the SPAM folder and you’ll lose it
and never know—and wonder why you never heard back from so-and-so.
Check your INBOX and SPAM, via the Web Email utility, daily or several times
weekly, depending on the volume you receive, noting which addresses either get
past the Spam Filter or get blocked in error. You can configure the filters
to block specific addresses that get by, as well as add to your “Accept
List” those addresses which should never be blocked. NOTE:
see the next Question for an alternative to checking the Spam Folder via the
web interface.
Eventually, you will likely need to tweak your filter settings and/or bump up
the level a notch, to keep up their effectiveness. You can add an extra measure
of filtering by enabling your email software’s filtering rules too. See that
heading for more info.
How
do I get to the SPAM folder? I don’t see anything new in my email program.
To clear out your SPAM folder, you need to use the Web Email utility—that
is where the Spam Folder will be located, not within your machine’s email
software. This is because the spam is filtered and shunted aside to a folder
in your email space on our server. Consequently you need to access the server
directly in order to check over and delete the retained spam mail. The exception
will be those who use IMAP. If you don’t know what that is, you probably
don’t need to consider it.
Using Web Email and your SPAM folder:
You can alternate between viewing the INBOX and the SPAM folder via the popup menu in the upper left corner of the window.
To deal with mail in your INBOX folder:
The page will reload again without those messages, as they have been deleted.
To deal with spam in the SPAM folder:
You probably don’t want to read most of it, but the above instructions apply here as well.
Be sure to click on Logout in the upper left before downloading your mail with your regular email software.
How do I get mail out of the SPAM folder & back to my INBOX for downloading?
Highlight the message and select INBOX from the “Selected mail to:” popup menu at the top of the list of messages, then click “move.” This will override the filter and you’ll be able to download the copied message with your other mail. If you’ve enabled your POP emailer’s filters, you may need to re-check those so the message isn’t handled along with other suspected spam, or is at least just shunted to a folder you can check prior to deletion. It will still have [SPAM?] or whatever indicator you indicated in options 4 & 5 of the Spam Controls Advanced Settings, in its Subject: field.
Note: Do not use the “Bounce” option as the message will simply be put back into the SPAM folder again.
How can I clear out collected spam without having to use the Web Email?
This method relies on the Spam Filters to scan and mark each suspect email, but then passes them on to your normal server-level inbox, for downloading with your regular email. You then rely on your email software to parse out the spam according to the Option 5 control you set in the Spam Controls, and either quarantine for review or delete in the email’s trash.
This will alleviate the need to check and delete via the Web Email interface, but will still involve some download time. The vast majority of spam does not bring attachments of any great size, though on occasion it may still be necessary to delete something that is too big and blocks normal downloads.
Using the Spam Controls to pre-scan emails, even if not stored or deleted at the server, still allows you to take advantage of the various sophisticated rules and blacklist filters of our spam scanning software. Most if not all of these particular filtering rules are not available in your email software.
1. In the Spam Control settings
2. Then, in your regular POP email software, locate the filtering rules, and set a rule that all email with [Spam?], or your chosen descriptor in the Subject: line, be transferred to either a spam folder/mailbox or the trash (depending on whether or not you wish to review the quarantine mail prior to deleting it).
You might want to set additional rules for similar treatment for emails that slip through the server-level spam filter.
I use pine
for my email—will there be a SPAM folder?
Customers using pine, and those whose mail is delivered to granite, will find
the SPAM folder added to the Folder list—mail is filtered prior to delivery
to the server and spam will be stored in the SPAM folder. Just tab to it and
deal with the messages as you do normally. Use the Spam Controls page to set
your filtering level and tweak your settings.
How do I set my email software’s filtering rules?
Filtering rules can be very complex. However, to set up something that will shunt messages with[Spam?] in the Subject: line into either a spam folder so it can be reviewed prior to deleting, or directly into the email’s trash, is not terribly daunting. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll be able to expand your rules to catch other unwanted email. Listed below are several links. The first 2 will bring up popup windows with instructions for Outlook and Eudora. The instructions may not follow your software’s options exactly, depending on your platform (PC/Mac) and software version, but should help you. The other links are to sites with more detailed info.
How do I “Expand Email Headers,” and why?
Expanding the headers on emails lets you follow the path the email took from its point of origin to your inbox. Spammers can fake much of the info, just as they fake (“Spoof”) the address the mail is purportedly coming from. Expanded header can lead you to the originating ISP, where you can send the offending email to “abuse@...” Sending offensive emails to an ISP’s abuse department, ours or anyone else’s, does no good unless you send the message with the headers expanded so the originator can be tracked down. Visit our “Expanded Headers” webpage for instructions on expanding the headers in Outlook, Eudora, pine, and Netscape.
Other sites with header info are:
Tracking & Reporting Spam & Email Abuse (see also the “Expanding Headers” section above)
There’s a lot you can learn, and some you can do—the sites below will get you started. Almost everyone who begins to educate themselves will have favorite sites, and you’ll accumulate a few of your own. Some of the sites below offer tracking services and you can ship off your spam to them (headers expanded!), others will offer advice and workarounds. A few software options are at the end.
Tracking/Reporting:
Resources/Info:
Anti-Spam software: Note: If you choose to use a “challenge-based” product (where the sender must respond to an auto-generated message before they are allowed to email you) be aware that you should manually enter SoVerNet’s departmental email addresses (support, customer service, hostmaster, webmaster, etc), to ensure that you receive notices and information that will affect the use of your account. The general volume of email we answer daily tends to prevent us from responding to such challenge queries. The addresses you should enter are found on our Contact Page.
Most readily-available anti-spam software is for Windows-based systems. Mac software is a bit more difficult to locate. Please read the info at these sites thoroughly before installing on your machine. SoVerNet makes no claims as to the reliability of any of these products though we have attempted to list only those that are better-known. Support for these products lies with the vendor. Listings are provided for your information and do not constitute an endorsement of the product, nor a recommendation.
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