Navigate to MS Exchange Server > SpamStopper or Services > MS Exchange Server > SpamStopper (for Exchange 2007/2010 customers) in your HostPilot interface to enabled/disabled SpamStopper and manage its settings.
Anti-SPAM protection is based on the open source SpamAssassin filtering software that, besides checking against real-time black lists, uses a sophisticated analysis of message header and text to assign a weight to each message. When the assigned weight exceeds a certain threshold, the filter routes such messages to a "Junk Email" folder with the exceptions when the sender is a member of your White list - either account level or mailbox level.
Regardless of whether or not the Spam Stopper service is being used on an account, the following checks are always performed:
- check against DNSBLs (DNS-based Blackhole Lists) per list below:
- dnsbl.njabl.org - open relays based on submissions and tests
- cbl.abuseat.org - probable open proxies, machines likely infected with spyware, trojans or viruses that send email
- check for empty TO and FROM fields in Headers (not in the "message envelope");
- check for a valid fully qualified senders (FROM) e-mail address;
- check for a valid domain in the FROM address (check for a valid A or MX record).
All e-mail messages that do not pass any of the above checks are not accepted by the mail servers for delivery to recipients.
Business Exchange 2010 accounts have limited access to modify SpamStopper settings. Please refer to the following articles:
SpamStopper for Business Exchange 2010 accounts
How do I upgrade from Business to Enterprise Exchange 2010 account?
Manage Account Wide Blocked/Safe Senders Lists
Account Wide SpamStopper Options
Disabling Spam Filtering
Outlook and Entourage
Manage Account Wide Blocked/Safe Sender Lists:
If an email address or domain is on the Account Blocked Sender list, any e-mail from a sender which matches will be discarded independently of the Account Wide SpamStopper settings below.
If an email address or domain is on the Safe Sender list, then any mail from that sender will be delivered to the mailbox of the recipient, regardless of the spam score.
Mailbox level Blocked or Safe Senders lists will always take precedence over Account Wide Blocked or Safe Senders lists.
Please note:DNSBL checks are performed during the SMTP transaction and rejected prior to the DATA command. The mail is rejected before the message is received; therefore, mail from sending mailservers whose IPs are on one of the DNSBLs used by Intermedia will be rejected even if they are on the Account Wide WhiteList. There is NO work around or fix for this, other than for the sender to have their IP address removed from the listing DNSBL.
Add New Address to Blocked/Safe Sender Lists
The email address or domain to be added to the white or black list should be entered in the box, The format for an email address must be name@domain.com. The format for a domain must be @domain.com – this will cause mail from ALL USERS at domain.com to be treated as spam or WhiteListed. Wildcards (* or ?) are not allowed in the Blocked or Safe Senders lists (e.g. @*.tld or @domain??.tld). The radio button for either the Blocked or Safe Senders list. When the Add Address(es) button is checked, the email address or the domain will be added to the appropriate list.
Account Wide Blocked/Safe Sender Lists
Domains and email addresses which are contained on either the Blocked or Safe Sender lists are shown here. The list can be restricted via the drop down menu to show All Lists, only the Blocked list entries or only the Safe list entries. Addresses can also be filtered by starting letter using the alphabetical list on the top.
To remove an email address from its respective list, check the box next to that address (or addresses) then click Delete Address(es).
The current Blocked or Safe Sender lists can be exported to a file by clicking the Export Blocked Senders List or Export Safe Senders List buttons.
Account Wide SpamStopper Options:
Scan for Spam - This box must be checked to enable the SpamStopper on your account. If the box is unchecked, mail will not be scanned, but the service will still be active.
Spam Scanner protection level - SpamStopper allows protection level adjustment from 1 to 10, where level 1 is most strict and will allow the least amount of spam through, but with a higher chance of blocking genuinely desired email. Level 10 is the least strict and will allow more emails through to your inbox, but with an increased likelihood that spam will also get through.
Move Spam Messages to the Junk E-mail folder - If this radio button is used, any messages evaluated by SpamStopper as spam, based on the current protection level setting, will be delivered to the Junk E-mail folder. For additional regarding the delivery of mail to the Junk E-mail folders, please read the Outlook and Entourage section of this Article.
Permanently delete items detected as spam without delivery to the Junk E-mail folder - If this radio button is used, mail determined to be spam, based on the current protection level setting, will be DELETED without delivery. Mail deleted in this manner will NOT generate a bounce back to the sender. This can result in the loss of wanted and legitimate email.
Reject messages with 'bad' mail headers - If this radio button is used, the server will reject mail with headers that are not compliant with RFC-2821 (RFC 2821 is the “standard” for the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). 'Bad' headers can contain executable code and be used to infect client systems.
Reject messages with dangerous attachments - Please see KnowledgeBase Article 1493 for a list of prohibited attachments.
Accept messages with dangerous attachments from safe senders - If this radio button is used, the server will accept messages with prohibited attachments from addresses listed in Safe Senders list.
The changes above will not take affect until Save Changes is clicked.
Disabling SpamStopper
When SpamStopper is disabled, you are still protected with 'basic anti-spam', including the following features:
- Perimeter scanning: check against DNS RBL (Realtime Blackhole List);
- check for empty TO and FROM fields in message headers (not in the "message envelope");
- check for a valid fully-qualified sender's (FROM) email address;
- check for a valid domain in the FROM address.
- Built-in Outlook/Exchange spam filtering protection: IMF (Intelligent Message Filtering) individual white/black lists on mailbox
Outlook and Entourage with SpamStopper
Mail considered to be SPAM will be placed in your Junk Mail folder in both Outlook or Entourage. In addition, Outlook users can take advantage of the built-in “Junk E-mail” features for Whitelisting and Blacklisting:
For more information on Junk Email settings, please see Microsoft's article: About the Junk E-mail Filter
PLEASE NOTE: Outlook may produce the following error when you are working with the Junk Email settings:
Although the warning states that you must be in cached mode for the settings to work, our servers will allow these settings to be changed without requiring the user to be in Cached Exchange mode.
Before your email client will begin sending messages to the Junk Email folder, all users must log into their account using either Outlook 2003/2007 OR via Outlook Web Access. Please note that Entourage will "move" the message on the client side rather than the server side unless this procedure is followed.
If you are running a version of Outlook prior to Outlook 2003 or Entourage, the Safe Senders and Blocked Senders lists cannot be modified from the e-mail client; however, these lists can be modified using Outlook Web Access. If Outlook Web Access is used in this way to enable junk e-mail filtering, messages whose sender is on the Blocked Senders list or are marked as spam will be delivered to the user's Junk E-mail folder. Messages marked as spam whose sender is on the Safe Senders list will be delivered to the user's Inbox. If Outlook Web Access has not been used to enable junk e-mail filtering, every message, including those marked as spam, will be delivered directly to your Inbox. |
