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SpamAssassin

Posted on 08 April 2008

From: The Apache SpamAssassin Project

SpamAssassin is released under the Apache License 2.0 used for e-mail spam filtering based on content-matching rules, which also supports DNS-based, checksum-based and statistical filtering, supported by external programs and online databases.

SpamAssassin is regarded by some as one of the most effective spam filters, especially when used in combination with spam databases. While simple text-matching alone may, for most users, be sufficient to correctly classify a majority of incoming mail the complexity involved in the combination of the comparison of words and symbols used in conjunction with the sources of spam may far exceed the average user's capability. For instance, graphic-only spam messages have no text to compare to therefore checking the sender's originating mailserver and included links against various databases of known e-mail abusers enables the prevention of unnecessary or non-personal mail getting through to the end user.

Features

  • Wide-spectrum: SpamAssassin uses a wide variety of local and network tests to identify spam signatures. This makes it harder for spammers to identify one aspect which they can craft their messages to work around.

  • Free software: it is distributed under the same terms and conditions as other popular open-source software packages such as the Apache web server.
    Easy to extend: Anti-spam tests and configuration are stored in plain text, making it easy to configure and add new rules.

  • Flexible: SpamAssassin encapsulates its logic in a well-designed, abstract API so it can be integrated anywhere in the email stream. The Mail::SpamAssassin classes can be used on a wide variety of email systems including procmail, sendmail, Postfix, qmail, and many others.

  • Easy Configuration: SpamAssassin requires very little configuration; you do not need to continually update it with details of your mail accounts, mailing list memberships, etc. Once classified, site and user-specific policies can then be applied against spam. Policies can be applied on both mail servers and later using the user's own mail user-agent application.

 

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