How SpamAssassin Works
cPanel’s Spam Filters powered by SpamAssassin are not an all-or-nothing email filter, as some other spam prevention tools are. Instead, they determine whether an email is spam as soon as it hits the server. SpamAssassin works on the back end of your email server and has 10 different levels of settings to catch spam. When enabled by default, your filters will be set to 5. This is mid-range — but what exactly does that mean?
How the Point System Works
SpamAssassin uses a points based system called “hits” to label spam. When it finds particular characteristics in an email it assigns a point value. These ‘characteristics’ can include everything from words and topics commonly found in spam emails, to malicious code, and even custom values you set yourself. If the email exceeds the maximum point value you set, the email is flagged as spam.
The lower the score you set, the more email will be caught as spam. For example, a setting of 1 means that only one hit needs to be flagged against an email for it to be considered spam. If you set the score higher, more hits will be required on an email for it to be labeled as spam. So, the lower the score, the more emails should be flagged as spam.
How to Enable SpamAssassin
Step1:Log into cPanel.
Step2:Under the Email section, click on the Spam Filters icon.
Step3:Click on the toggle switch that appears before Process New Emails and Mark them as Spam.
How to Disable SpamAssassin
Step1:Log into cPanel.
Step2:Under the Email section, click on the Spam Filters icon.
Step3:Click on the toggle switch that appears before Process New Emails and Mark them as Spam.
How SpamAssassin Scores Spam Messages
With spam comprising almost 80% of all emails sent across the planet, it is definitely important to try and filter them out as best you can. With a tool like SpamAssassin, each email will be evaluated against a score standard and either allowed to pass to your mailbox or flagged as spam and dealt with accordingly.
There are many different factors that SpamAssassin uses while trying to determine if a message is possibly spam or not. If you review our guide on why does SpamAssassin label my email as spam that should give you a good understanding of what it’s looking for when scoring a message.
You can also take a look at the long list of SpamAssassin tests performed in v3.3.x for the complete list along with scores of all the various tests SpamAssassin runs on your messages.
How to Modify the Spam Threshold Score
The Spam Threshold Score is the limit that can be set to identify spam messages in your email account(s). When SpamAssassin is enabled, it assigns a score to each email based on how likely it is to be spam. With a range of 0-10, the default setting for SpamAssassin is 5, which is right in the middle. If an email is given a score above the threshold, SpamAssassin will modify the header of that email to identify it as spam. The email header can then be used to filter spam away from your inbox, according to the settings configured in the Spam Filters plugin for cPanel. In this guide, you can learn how to modify the Spam Threshold Score.
Step1:Log into cPanel.
Step2:Under the Email section, click on the Spam Filters icon.
Step3:Under the toggle switch labeled: Process New Emails and Mark them as Spam, there is a brief description of how SpamAssassin works. Click on the link at the end, Spam Threshold Score.
Step4:Select a value from the Spam Threshold Score (required_score) drop-down menu.
NOTE: The lower the Spam Threshold Score, the more strict the filter will be, resulting in the possibility of less spam appearing in your inbox. However, this may also cause more legitimate emails to be identified as spam (and possibly filtered away from your inbox).
On the contrary, the higher the Spam Threshold Score, the less strict the filter will be, resulting in the possibility of fewer emails being falsely identified as spam.However,this may also cause more spam to appear in your inbox.
The best way to determine which Spam Score is optimal for your email activity is to monitor the behavior closely while experimenting with various Spam Threshold Scores. For more assistance with this, please see below for a look at how to choose an effective spam threshold score.
Finally, click the Update Scoring Options button to save your new Spam Threshold Score.
The Spam Box
Step1:Log into cPanel.
Step2:Click on the Spam Filters icon, under the Email section.
Step3:Click on the Move New Spam to a Separate Folder (Spam Box) toggle.
Step4:The toggle should change to blue and a green success message will appear, indicating: “Success: Spam Box has been enabled.”
Step5:To disable Spam Box, simply click the same toggle.
Step6:The toggle should change to grey and a green success message will appear, indicating: “Success: Spam Box has been disabled.
Enable/Disable the Auto-Delete Feature
Step1:Log into cPanel.
Step2:Click on the Spam Filters icon under the Email section.
Step3:Click on the Automatically Delete New Spam (Auto-Delete) toggle.
Step4:The toggle should change to blue and a green success message will appear, indicating: “Spam Auto-Delete has been enabled.”
Step5:To disable Auto-Delete, simply click the same toggle.
Step6:The toggle should change to grey and a green success message will appear, indicating: “Spam Auto-Delete has been disabled.”
Auto-Delete Spam Threshold Score
Step1:Log into cPanel.
Step2:Under the Email section, click on the Spam Filters icon.
Step3:Under the toggle switch labeled: Automatically Delete New Spam (Auto-Delete), click on Configure Auto-Delete Settings
Step4:In the Auto-Delete Threshold Score field, enter the numerical value that you would like.
WARNING: Email messages that are assigned a Spam Score higher than the value you set will be automatically deleted. Those email messages will not be able to be recovered. We recommend utilizing the Spam Box feature for filtering out spam.
IMPORTANT: You can not set this score below the current Spam Threshold Score.
Step5:Click on the Update Auto-Delete Score button to save your changes.
How to Manage Blacklist Filters
Step1:Log into cPanel.
Step2:Click on the Spam Filters icon located in the Email section.
Step3:Under the Additional Configurations (For Advanced Users) section, click on Show Additional Configurations to expand the section. NOTE: This section and its options will only appear when SpamAssassin is enabled.
Step4:From the Blacklist (Emails Never Allowed) section, click on the link labeled: Edit Spam Blacklist Settings.
How to Manage Blacklist Filters
An influx of unsolicited emails can be quite irritating. However, you can utilize SpamAssassin to help fight against spam. In particular, you can add email addresses to the Blacklist so that Spam Filters will classify messages from them as spam. In this guide, you can learn how to manage the SpamAssassin Blacklist using the Spam Filters plugin for cPanel.
Step1:Log into cPanel.
Step2:Click on the Spam Filters icon located in the Email section.
Step3:Under the Additional Configurations (For Advanced Users) section, click on Show Additional Configurations to expand the section. NOTE: This section and its options will only appear when SpamAssassin is enabled.
Step4:From the Blacklist (Emails Never Allowed) section, click on the link labeled: Edit Spam Blacklist Settings.
Add Email Address
Step1:Log into cpanel
Step2:Log into cPanel and navigate to the Blacklist settings.
Step3:Add A New blacklist_from Item link displayed.
Step4:A blacklist_from field will appear for you to enter the email address into. Repeat Step 2 and 3 for each email address you would like to add.
Step5:Click the Update Blacklist (blacklist_from) button to save your changes.
Delete Email Address from Blacklist
Step1:Log into cPanel and navigate to the Blacklist settings.
Step2:Click on the icon to the right on the blacklist_from field that contains the email address you would like to remove.
Step3:Click the Update Blacklist (blacklist_from) button to save your changes.
How to Manage Whitelist Filters
Step1:Log into cPanel.
Step2:Click on the Spam Filters icon located in the Email section.
Step3:Under the Additional Configurations (For Advanced Users) section, click on Show Additional Configurations to expand the section.
Step4:From the Whitelist (Emails Always Allowed) section, click on the link labeled: Edit Spam Whitelist Settings.
Add Email Address
Step1:Log into cPanel and navigate to the Whitelist settings.
Step2:Click on the Add A New “whitelist_from” Item link.
Step3:A whitelist_from field will appear for you to enter the email address into. Repeat Step 2 and 3 for each email address you would like to add.
Step4:Click the Update Whitelist (whitelist_from) button to save your changes.
Delete Email Address from Whitelist
Step1:Log into cPanel and navigate to the Whitelist settings.
Step2:Click on the icon to the right on the whitelist_from field that contains the email address you would like to remove.
Step3:Click the Update Whitelist (whitelist_from) button to save your changes.
