D 3 T E C H N OL OG I E S SP A M FI L T E R
The D3 Technologies spam filtering provides virus, attachment, and spam filtering services for email. We check all emails for viruses and malicious content, since we feel these attacks need to be stopped before they do any damage. Spam filtering services are provided for specific addresses only. This guide is intended for both users and domain administrators. Changes made by domain administrators will affect all users in that domain, and changes by users will only affect that user. For support options, we have included our contact information at the end of this guide.
ACCESSING THE SYSTEM
LOGGING IN
To access the Spam Filter service, open http://smtp.d3pact.com in a web browser (the site has been tested in Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 and Mozilla Firefox 3.5.x). You will be immediately prompted to enter your username and password. Your username is your email address. Click on “OK” to complete the authentication process.
LOGGING OUT
When you are finished using the system, click on “Logout” in the upper right corner of the interface to exit the site. Your session with the website will end, and you will be asked to authenticate again. Click on “Cancel” to quit the authentication process.
THE INTERFACE
emails sent to you or to the entire domain. The following sections will describe in detail the information and actions available in the system interface.
COLOR CODES
Each email that is received by the spam filter undergoes certain checks, and the result of those checks is shown in the user interface. The messages are highlighted with the color code of the result of the email scan. The Color Codes key is on the top center of the interface for reference.
JUMP TO MESSAGE
The “Jump to message” box allows the user or administrator to quickly see the contents of a blocked message. This box requires the Message ID assigned by the system (for example, C8FAF2232B.AA8AA). Press the ENTER key to view the message headers.
MENU BAR
The menu bar is used to access different parts of the system. “Recent Messages” will list the last 50 messages received by the system, only showing those the user has permissions to view. “Lists” provides the interface for customizing the whitelist and blacklist. “Quarantine” is used to view the messages in the Quarantine, by date (note that all available dates are displayed- you may not have any messages quarantined on that date). The “Reports” menu links to a number of available reports. The “Tools / Links” menu provides the user administration link and other information. To logout of the system, click on “Logout”.
MESSAGE OPERATIONS
As email messages are received and processed, the messages that are categorized as “Spam” are stored, and further operations can be performed on them. To access a message’s properties, click on the box (“[ ]”) to the left of the message. The information listed is generally for troubleshooting purposes, such as the message headers. The following sections explain what happens when a scan of the email triggers the filter.
All messages received by the filter, regardless of Spam checks, are scanned for viruses and other dangerous content. In this example, the message contained a file that has been blocked by the filter. The particular file was a Windows Executable (.exe) file.
SPAMASSASSIN
The SpamAssassin section notes what actions (if any) were taken during the spam checks. In this example, the email triggered “Spam” and “High Scoring Spam” checks, which modify the email header to include the spam information and store the message in the Quarantine. Additionally, the IP address sending the email has been listed in a Real-Time Black List (RBL), meaning it has been sending a large amount of spam. The total
SpamAssassin score assigned to the email is also listed.
Below the SpamAssassin Score is the Spam Report. This section lists the checks that matched common spam properties, and the score assigned to each check. The scores are added to provide the SpamAssassin score, and it is this score that the filter takes action on. The first item in the Spam Report indicates that a score of 6 or greater is required before the email is classified as “Spam”, and the second item indicates that the SpamAssassin system will auto-learn the message as Spam. The auto-learning process enables the system to block spam messages that have been sent to multiple email addresses in the organization.
If enabled for the domain, Message Content Protection (MCP) will filter emails based upon content. Similar to spam checks, MCP checks messages for compliance with email policies.
QUARANTINE ACTIONS
If an email has been classified as Spam, the message is automatically quarantined. At the bottom of the message information, the quarantine actions can be performed. Checking “Release” and then clicking on Submit will send the quarantined email to your address. Likewise, checking “Delete” and then clicking Submit will delete the email from the quarantine. You can view the contents of the email message by clicking the link under “Path”. If you wish to release the email to an alternate recipient, check and type in their email address in the “Alternate Recipient(s)” box, and then check the “Release” box and click submit.
MANAGING YOUR USER ACCOUNT
To manage your user account, click on the “Tools/Links” menu, and then select “User Management”. You will be presented with the user management interface.
Although the user can change their username and Name, this is not recommended, as spam checks and filtering is performed based upon the username.
To change your password, type the new password into the “Password” box, and click Update. To cancel the new change(before clicking Update), click on Reset.
To receive daily quarantine report summaries, ensure that the check box next to “Send Daily Report?” is checked. By default, the box is not checked. You can also specify an alternate recipient of the report, which is useful when filtering on a mail group or list.
By default, all accounts created have the “Scan for Spam” box checked. To disable spam checking for a user or domain, uncheck this email. Note that we (D3 Technologies) need to perform additional configuration when setting up a new user.
You can adjust the Spam Score and High Spam Score in this interface, too. Our system defaults are to use a score of 6 for the Spam Score, and a score of 10 for the High Spam Score. However, lower (or higher) thresholds can be specified on a per-domain or per-user basis. To change your spam scores, enter the new threshold and then click “Update”. Our system is scheduled to refresh these settings periodically, and changes may not take effect immediately. We recommend that you utilize the Message Operations report (found under the Reports menu) to gauge any changes to the Spam Score or High Spam Score.
WHITELIST AND BLACKLIST SETTINGS
“Lists” menu. A whitelist is a list of allowed senders (regardless of Spam content), and a blacklist is a list of blocked senders. When a domain administrator creates a whitelist or blacklist entry, the setting is in effect for the entire domain.
VIEWING WHITELISTS AND BLACKLISTS
The whitelist and blacklist entries are listed on the page. You can either enter an individual email address, or place a star (*) before the “@” symbol to include all email from a domain. To remove an address from the list, click on “Delete”. Similar to the spam filter settings, new whitelist and blacklist entries will not go into effect until the next system refresh.
ADDING ADDRESSES TO THE WHITELIST
To add a domain to the appropriate list, enter “*@” followed by the domain name in the “From” section. To add an
individual email address, enter the email address in the “From” section. Then, select the appropriate list entry, and click “Add”.
SPAM FILTER SERVICE SUPPORT
We believe one of the keys to a successful service is to provide excellent support. We can be reached a number of ways:
By Telephone: (417) 831-7171 Option 3. Hours are M-F 8:00 AM-5:00 PM CST, excluding US holidays.
By email: [email protected] (forwards email to support portal)
We are integrating our online support portal with our website (http://d3pact.com), and offer live chat support via a link on the left of the homepage. You can also sign up for an account within our helpdesk portal. Click on the “Support” link at the top of the page to access our helpdesk.
