How to stop unwanted e-mail using Spam Filters

This article describes how to use the Spam Filters tool in cPanel to reduce the amount of unwanted e-mail (spam) in your e-mail accounts. Spam Filters (powered by Apache SpamAssassin™) is an automated filtering system that uses a variety of techniques to identify and filter spam messages.

Spam Filters

Spam can be a major annoyance, with messages filling up user inboxes. Additionally, spam messages can contain virus attachments or malicious links.

When you enable Spam Filters, powered by Apache SpamAssassin™, it uses scores to rate the likelihood that a message is spam. You can manage messages that Spam Filters marks as spam in a number of ways. For example, you can route messages marked as spam to specific folders, or you can automatically delete them.

Enabling Spam Filters

To enable Spam Filters in cPanel, follow these steps:

1. Log in to cPanel.
   If you do not know how to log in to your cPanel account, please see this article.
2. Open the Spam Filters tool:
   • If you are using the Jupiter theme, on the Tools page, in the Email section, click Spam Filters:

     

   • If you are using the Paper Lantern theme, in the EMAIL section of the cPanel home page, click Spam Filters:
     

     

3. On the Spam Filters page, click Process New Emails and Mark them as Spam.

4. To enable auto-deletion of spam messages, click Automatically Delete New Spam (Auto-Delete).
   

   • To change the deletion trigger level, click Configure Auto-Delete Settings. In the Auto-Delete Threshold Score text box, type the score number, and then click Update Auto-Delete Score.
     A lower score is more restrictive. For example, an auto-deletion score of 1 is very aggressive and deletes many messages. An auto-deletion score of 10 is more permissive and allows more messages through without deleting them.

Configuring Mail Spam Filters

You can further customize the parameters to control how Spam Filters examines incoming messages. You can also define whitelists (trusted senders) and blacklists (known spammers).

To customize Spam Filters in cPanel, follow these steps:

1. Log in to cPanel.
   If you do not know how to log in to your cPanel account, please see this article.
2. Open the Spam Filters tool:
   • If you are using the Jupiter theme, on the Tools page, in the Email section, click Spam Filters:

     

   • If you are using the Paper Lantern theme, in the EMAIL section of the cPanel home page, click Spam Filters:
     

     

3. On the Spam Filters page, click Show Additional Configurations.

4. To configure whitelists, click Edit Spam Whitelist Settings:
   

   • Click Add A New “whitelist_from” item, and then in the whitelist_from text box, you can specify e-mail addresses that are trusted senders.
   • Click Update Whitelist (whitelist_from).

5. To configure blacklists, click Edit Spam Blacklist Settings:
   

   • Click Add A New “blacklist_from” item, and then in the blacklist_from text box, you can specify e-mail addresses that are known spammers.
   • Click Update Blacklist (blacklist_from).

6. To configure spam score settings, click Configure Calculated Spam Score Settings:
   

   • Click Add A New “scores” item.
   • In the scores list box, select the test name, and then type the score value.
     A2 Hosting recommends using the following test scores:

     • URIBL_DBL_SPAM 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0
     • URIBL_WS_SURBL 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0
     • URIBL_BLACK 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0
     • T_DKIM_INVALID 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
     • RDNS_NONE 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.8

     The URIBL_* tests check blacklists such as Spamhaus. The RDNS_NONE test checks to see if the sending IP address has a reverse DNS entry, while the DCC_CHECK test checks the DCC checksum database to detect bulk mail. If you later want to reset these scores to their default values, use the following test scores:

     • URIBL_DBL_SPAM 0 1.7 0 1.7
     • URIBL_WS_SURBL 0 1.659 0 1.608
     • URIBL_BLACK 0 1.775 0 1.725
     • T_DKIM_INVALID 0 0 0 0
     • RDNS_NONE 0 1.1 0 0.7
   • Click Update Scoring Options.

Disabling Spam Filters

You can disable Spam Filters whenever you want. For example, if you are unable to receive a non-spam e-mail message, you can disable Spam Filters and ask the sender to resend the message so it reaches your account.

To disable Spam Filters in cPanel, follow these steps:

1. Log in to cPanel.
   If you do not know how to log in to your cPanel account, please see this article.
2. Open the Spam Filters tool:
   • If you are using the Jupiter theme, on the Tools page, in the Email section, click Spam Filters:

     

   • If you are using the Paper Lantern theme, in the EMAIL section of the cPanel home page, click Spam Filters:
     

     

3. On the Spam Filters page, click Process New Emails and Mark them as Spam. cPanel disables Spam Filters.

More Information

For general information about SpamAssassin (which runs Spam Filters,) please visit http://spamassassin.apache.org.