How Spam Scores Work

["Marc Getty" <marc@getty.net>]

Note that the following is written in the SpamAssassin
<http://spamassassin.apache.org> mindset, each anti-spam software has
different ways to determine what is and what is not spam.

Individuals do not have spam scores, individual messages have spam scores.
These scores are based on a number of criteria. If the message is sent from
a known open mail relay it gets a high score. If the IP sending the message
to the mail relay is blacklisted, it too gets a high score.

Most spam filters use Bayesian techniques to determine if the message is
spam based on content. If you use the brand names of male erection products,
home loans, or swiss watches in the subject or body of your message your
message will get a higher score. If I send someone a brief e-mail that only
has a URL in it, this message has a chance of being flagged as spam because
this is a favorite tactic of spammers.

Once the sent-from and content are scanned by the anti-spam software and the
scores are determined, the score is compared to the spam thresholds set by
the sysadmin. How the spam is handled is determined by the sysadmin.

For my SpamAssassin setup anything with a score of 15 or higher gets a
bounce back message to the sending server and is then automatically deleted.
This happens to ~3000 messages every week. Messages that score between 6 and
15 are marked as spam and stored in a special location that I can access.
This is a just-in-case system for me to check for false positives from the
~700 or so messages a week that are almost certainly spam. I occasionally
check to see if good mail is not getting through. Messages that score <6 are
forwarded to my inbox. 

The ~400 messages a day that make it to my inbox are then moved into
appropriate folders based on content using 60+ custom Outlook mail rules.
Out of the ~6500 e-mails I receive each week, less then 50 day actually make
it to my inbox! ~10 are spam that actually make it through. Everything else
is sorted into folders for me to read at the appropriate time.

The only thing I can't figure out is why spammer send completely jibberish
e-mails with dictionary words that are not selling anything. Can anyone tell
me a difinitive reason why they do this?

-Marc

'87 VW Scirocco 16v
'84 VW GTI Bunny Truck


 
-----Original Message-----
From: scirocco-l-bounces@scirocco.org
[mailto:scirocco-l-bounces@scirocco.org] On Behalf Of Larry Fry
Sent: Sunday, January 16, 2005 10:18 AM
To: Derrick; Rocco list
Subject: Re: [SPAM] lower scores

Anyone know how I find out what my spam score IS???

Larry
sandiego16v


> Any one know how I lower my spam score?  its 3.9 now.



--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 265.6.13 - Release Date: 1/16/2005


_______________________________________________
Scirocco-l mailing list
Scirocco-l@scirocco.org
http://neubayern.net/mailman/listinfo/scirocco-l


_______________________________________________
Scirocco-l mailing list
Scirocco-l@scirocco.org
http://neubayern.net/mailman/listinfo/scirocco-l