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	Plain E-Mail or Spam Protection? Much like caller id, the source IP address of a third-party mail server attempting to deliver mail to an Atlanta Web Host customer can be used to decide if a message should be accepted or rejected. Customers can choose to utilize our spam reduction service or to accept all mail. The Definition of Spam The word "Spam" as applied to Email means Unsolicited Bulk Email ("UBE"). Unsolicited means that the Recipient has not granted verifiable permission for the message to be sent. Bulk means that the message is sent as part of a larger collection of messages, all having substantively identical content. A message is Spam only if it is both Unsolicited and Bulk. Unsolicited Email is normal email (examples include first contact enquiries, job enquiries, sales enquiries, etc.) Bulk Email is normal email (examples include subscriber newsletters, discussion lists, information lists, etc.). The SpamHaus Project The SpamHaus project maintains the lists which Atlanta Web Host uses for customers wishing to employ spam filtering. Spamhaus tracks the Internet's Spammers, Spam Gangs and Spam Services, provides dependable realtime anti-spam protection for Internet networks, and works with Law Enforcement to identify and pursue spammers worldwide. The Spamhaus Block List (SBL) is a realtime database of IP addresses of verified spam sources (including spammers, spam gangs and spam support services), maintained by the Spamhaus Project team. The Exploits Block List (XBL) is a realtime database of IP addresses of illegal 3rd party exploits, including open proxies (HTTP, socks, AnalogX, wingate, etc), worms/viruses with built-in spam engines, and other types of trojan-horse exploits. SPAMHAUS Rationale The Definition of Spam SBL FAQ XBL FAQ SpamAssassin Tagging For customers who choose to have e-mail protection on their domains, e-mail messages that are accepted by the SMTP server are passed through SpamAssassin for analysis. Mail that is determined to be spam is not blocked, but instead delivered with markup that allows each user to choose to filter or read the mail. SpamAssassin is a mature, widely-deployed open source project that serves as a mail filter to identify spam. SpamAssassin uses a variety of mechanisms including header and text analysis, Bayesian filtering, DNS blocklists, and collaborative filtering databases. When SpamAssassin identifies a message as spam or that it adds headers that can be used to quickly sort downloaded messages. Users can configure their mail program to send mail with the "X-Spam-Flag: YES" header to a special folder or even delete it. Apache SpamAssassin FAQ It is important to remember that our servers do not discard any messages based on SpamAssassin results, but the information is very convenient for processing your mail and protecting your users from certain worm security threats. Stopping Phishing Attacks As explained in "Saying no to PayPal Phishing Attacks," PayPal, EBay, SunTrust, and other spoofs are marked up by SpamAssassin prior to delivery. These e-mails are social engineering attacks against users to "to fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy person or business with a real need for such information in a seemingly official electronic notification or message" (Phishing, Wikipedia).