Spam is not just annoying, but often a security threat. Cleaning up cluttered mailboxes is time-consuming and messages are often laced with virus attachments or malicious links, leading to e.g. ransomware attacks.
The best webmasters prevent spam, not just clean it up!
Thankfully, this task is made easier with panels – especially cPanel and Plesk.
Each provides a number of useful features to manage unwanted emails. You can significantly reduce spam within minutes.
How to Prevent Spam in cPanel and Plesk
Use SpamAssassin + spam filter
Both cPanel and Plesk have SpamAssassin (SA) preinstalled and integrated into the local mail server. When enabled, SA scans all incoming email and rates them on various factors.
For example, does the email have images and no text?
If the rating exceeds the allowed score, the email is marked as spam or deleted (as based on your preferences).
Both panels also offer other filters, allow you to redirect or even delete emails based on keywords.
For example, the word “Viagra” in the subject line. These filters, in combination with SpamAssassin detections, create a very powerful anti-spam mechanism on the server.
| How to enable SA in cPanel | How to enable SA in Plesk |
|
|
Enable DKIM and SPF checks
DKIM is the second revision of the DomainKeys authentication system. It checks whether an email is from the domain it claims to have been sent from.
If the message fails this check, it gets rejected by the server as spam.
DKIM is two-way. Any email you send must be signed in order to not be discarded or bounced by another server. And then you can instruct your server to reject or black hole as well.
This process involves many steps, and a great guide for these panels can be found here. Plesk has a dedicated DKIM selection area, while cPanel leverages DKIM checking via custom SpamAssassin mail filtering rules.
Disable catchall email
The catch-all (or catchall), aka the domain default email account, will accept all messages to non-existent accounts on a server when enabled.
Spammers blast spam to sites, whether or not they know an address.
For example, sales@ is a common spam message sent to all sites. If sales@ does not exist, and a catchall does, it’s diverted to this mailbox. So never enable the catchall address!
Doing so wastes server space, can consume CPU and RAM, and can allow malware onto the system.
While it can be useful for senders who mistyped the email address, it’s not worth it. Either set the address to either blackhole (discard) or reject (bounce) the messages.
| To enable in cPanel | To enable in Plesk |
|
|
EuroVPS vs. spam
We hate spam, you hate spam! We all hate spam!
Instead of cleaning up spam, and wasting your day, let EuroVPS help you. We’ll setup up your managed shared, VPS or dedicated plan to thwart spam. To learn a little bit more about our relationship with spam, you can read our spam and blacklisting policy in our FAQ section.
