SpamAssassin

Developed by Apache Software Foundation, SpamAssassin is a Pearl-based email spam-filtering computer program, which can be used as an independent spam filtering application or a subordinate program to other spam filtering programs. 

Ways to Work with SpamAssassin

• Integrate the program into a mail server so it will fulfill the automatic filtering of mail sent to the website. 
• Integrate with several email clients to be run by individual users.

Spam-filtering Methods of SpamAssassin

• DNS-based blackhole lists and DNS-based whitelists
• Fuzzy-checksum-based spam detection filters 
• Hashcash email stamps based on proof-of-work
• Sender Policy Framework and Domain Keys Identified Mail
• URI blacklists which are tracking spam websites

SpamAssassin applies a variety of rules that are used to detect whether mail is spam or not. In the program's documentation, these rules are called "tests." Each test has a particular value, which will be assigned to a message if it matches the criteria. The value can be negative or positive. A positive value means that the message is "spam" and a negative value stands for non-spam. 

By combining all the test scores, the program compiles a general score. SpamAssassin sets the score threshold, which defines whether the message is spam or not. Usually, a message has to match multiple tests to be classified as spam. One only test match will not mark it as spam.

SpamAssassin is free software, also called open source.

Last Updated: 23.03.2023