Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Hosting Security and Technology : email filtering

[Abu Mami]

Is there a program that can be installed on a server that can filter email? I want to be able to set spam definitions, so that I can catch known spam on the way in and bounce it and or autoreply with an anti-spam message.

Thanks.

[allan]

If you are using Sendmail you already have that capability built in. In fact I think most SMTP servers do this.

In Sendmail the file to edit is:

/etc/mail/access

You can read about it here:

http://www.sendmail.org/m4/anti-spam.html

To give you an example, we have some guy who has been hitting my wife with the "I need your opinion" e-mail about 50 times a day, so I installed this ruleset:

prodigy.net.mx 503 You have a virus -- please do something about it

Now she gets no more e-mail from him

[Abu Mami]

Originally posted by uuallan
If you are using Sendmail you already have that capability built in. In fact I think most SMTP servers do this.

In Sendmail the file to edit is:

/etc/mail/access

You can read about it here:

http://www.sendmail.org/m4/anti-spam.html

Great! I took a quick look at the link - just what I was looking for. Thanks! This will really help.

[jks]

To reduce spam, I can highly recommend using the dnsbl feature of Sendmail together with ORDB. It _really_ helps a lot!

[Abu Mami]

Originally posted by jks
To reduce spam, I can highly recommend using the dnsbl feature of Sendmail together with ORDB. It _really_ helps a lot!

OK Jens, are you trying to make me feel stupid? Umm, it "might help a lot", but I gotta know what you're talkin' about first. dnsbl? ORDB? How 'bout a hint? (ORDB? sorta sounds like something Microsoft would come up with )

Thanks for the help. I'll appreciate it even more when I understand it.

[jks]

Originally posted by Abu Mami
OK, are you trying to make me feel stupid? Umm, it "might help a lot", but I gotta know what you're talkin' about first. dnsbl? ORDB? How 'bout a hint? (ORDB? sorta sounds like something Microsoft would come up with )

Hehe :-)

Well, the dnsbl feature is described on the anti-spam link sent earlier in this thread.

Information about ORDB can be found here:

http://www.ordb.org/

[Abu Mami]

Hey Jens!

Thanks for the help. You're a gentleman and a scholar - but you knew that already. Right? I really do appreciate it. I'll take a look at the link you posted, and the previous links posted in this thread.

[jks]

Originally posted by Abu Mami
Hey Jens!

Thanks for the help. You're a gentleman and a scholar - but you knew that already. Right? I really do appreciate it. I'll take a look at the link you posted, and the previous links posted in this thread.

Except for the fact that I do not really know the meaning of the word "scholar", then ... yep yep ;-)

[Abu Mami]

Originally posted by jks


Except for the fact that I do not really know the meaning of the word "scholar", then ... yep yep ;-)

Hah! Got ya!
scholar - (noun) a learned person
You sir, are one of them!

You've got a nice web site too. I took a look. If I had the funds, I'd use your services. Well, maybe someday.

Now it's off to go learn about dnsbl, ORDB, and a whole bunch of other acronyms. Thanks again.

[linuxee]

on a unix box? check out procmail

http://www.procmail.org


send your spam to /dev/null or to a mail folder ... send the sircam worm to /dev/null or to a mail folder for review ...

if you really want to send a message back to spammers you can do that with procmail too ...

simply,


procmail rocks!

+linuxee+

[jks]

Originally posted by linuxee
on a unix box? check out procmail

http://www.procmail.org


send your spam to /dev/null or to a mail folder ... send the sircam worm to /dev/null or to a mail folder for review ...

if you really want to send a message back to spammers you can do that with procmail too ...

simply,


procmail rocks!

+linuxee+

Well, yes - procmail is one of the neat old utilities.

But you need some rules for procmail to make it effective. And here goes the same as for sendmail -- I'll recommend using ORDB for doing the actually identification of spammails.

(disclaimer: I will ofcourse lean a bit towards ORDB as I'm part of the project...)

[Abu Mami]

Originally posted by jks
(disclaimer: I will ofcourse lean a bit towards ORDB as I'm part of the project...)

That's OK. We can just consider this an insider's recommendation. Besides, you're a gentleman and a scholar. Right?