Spam Protection

One of the biggest challenges to email communication is the amount of junk mail flooding our inboxes. To help stem this tidal wave of spam, Safe-mail has implemented a set of features that eliminate almost all of the spam that normally reach your inbox. Furthermore, we know that each Safe-mail user is unique, and that means that spam filtering should be adaptable to each user's needs. At Safe-mail, this means giving users the ability to choose what features they wish to employ.

Safe-mail gives you control over how junk messages are managed and even how they are identified. Safe-mail allows you to specify addresses and domains that will be exempt from spam processing, or permanently blocked from entering your account. For instance, you can block all incoming messages, except for those messages that are from addresses in your address book. For more information on the SAFe/Block List, go here.

No online service gives you this much control over how spam is managed. 

What is Spam

Spam is any message or posting, regardless of its content, that is sent to multiple recipients who have not specifically requested the email. It can also be multiple postings of the same message to newsgroups or list servers that aren't related to the topic of the message. Other common terms for spam include UCE (Unsolicited Commercial Email) and UBE (Unsolicited Bulk Email). The individuals and organizations that send spam typically use a purchased or harvested a list of e-mail addresses.

For more information about spam, please visit http://spam.abuse.net/.

Managing junk messages

When clicking Folders/Mailboxes, you will notice a folder called 'Junk'. When Safe-mail detects spam, Safe-mail transfers the junk email to the Junk folder. Alternatively, you can specify that Safe-mail delete spam immediately.

You also have the option of emptying the Junk folder when your account fills up with too many email messages. When this feature is enabled, Safe-mail will empty the Junk folder when you reach your email quota.

How Safe-mail identifies spam

There are four ways that Safe-mail identifies that a message is spam:

NOTE: All emails that contain viruses are automatically deleted. Note that virus identification and message removal are not optional. If an email is deleted because it contains a virus, a note will be placed in the Junk folder containing the original message header and a short comment. Each virus detection note will identify the virus contained in the original message. For more information on our anti-virus features, go here.

Content is Suspected of Being Spam

Safe-mail uses the most advanced Bayesian spam filter available. Called Bogofilter, it allows Safe-mail to scan the contents of a message and identify the unique language patterns that indicate that an email is spam. Furthermore, Bogofilter continually adapts its rules, allowing Safe-mail to keep up with the constantly changing way that spam is created.

Sender's Email Address is Illegal

Email messages always contain the sender's address. However, sometimes the 'name' in an illegal address will contain illegal non-text characters such as: =, /, $, etc. An example of an illegal address might be:

jill$basset@xyz.net

NOTE: Some legitimate distribution lists produce emails with illegal sender addresses. If you receive email from such a list, disable the illegal email address recognition feature to keep legitimate email from being classified as junk. Alternatively, you can add the distribution list to a SAFe-list of acceptable domains or addresses. For more information on the SAFe/Block list, go here.

Sender is Suspected of Being an Imposter

Spam messages often identify the sender with a fake email address. Each email that is sent to a Safe-mail account is checked to verify whether the sender's email address is real. If the check finds that the sender's address does not exist, the email is classified as spam.

Messages from Anonymous Servers

Spam messages often come from anonymous servers. Therefore, Safe-mail classifies any message received from an anonymous server as spam. An anonymous server is any server that does not support proper back resolving.

This method is highly accurate. However, there are legitimate servers that do not support proper back resolving, this means that Safe-mail will occasionally misidentify a valid (but anonymous) server as a spammer.

Trusted Senders

Safe-mail spam filtering is very accurate. However there are times when you want to be absolutely certain that messages from a specific source are not classified as spam. Therefore, Safe-mail allows you to specify Trusted Senders.

Email messages from Trusted Senders are not subject to spam processing. Since most of us want to stay in touch with those in our address book, you have the option of specifying that everyone in your address book be considered a Trusted Sender. Additionally, you can manually assign addresses to be exempt from spam processing.

To assign an address as a Trusted Sender manually, go to the SAFe/Block list in Preferences. In the SAFe Users and Servers section, add those addresses that you wish to be exempt from spam testing. Once you have set up your SAFe Users and Servers list, return to General Mail Control Preferences and select the appropriate 'trusted senders' check box.

As an alternative to specifying Trusted Senders, you can use mail filters to move messages from the junk folder to another folder. For instance, if your friend Bill is sending you email that is sometimes classified as spam, an email filter can move Bill's messages from the junk folder to another folder (e.g., Mail from Bill). For more information on mail filters, go here.

What NOT to do with spam

Never respond to unsolicited email/spam. To the individuals who send spam, one response among thousands of mailings is enough to justify the practice.

Never respond to the spam email's instructions to reply with the word remove. This is a ploy to get you to react to the e-mail, and it alerts the sender that your e-mail address is real and vulnerable. If you reply, your address may be placed on more lists, resulting in more spam.

Never click a URL or web site address listed within a spam. This could alert the site to the validity of your e-mail address, often resulting in more spam.

Never sign up with sites that promise to remove your name from spam lists. Although some of these sites may be legitimate, more often than not, they are address collectors. The legitimate sites are ignored (or exploited) by the spammers, and the illegitimate sites are owned by them. In both cases, your address is recorded because you have just identified that your address is active and vulnerable.

NEVER use the 'send to a friend' link on an unfamiliar website. Your friend's email address might end up in a database used by spammers - not a helpful service to a friend.

Keeping spammers out of Safe-mail

Safe-mail.net servers benefit from a process that detects and removes spammer accounts automatically - usually before they can send their first spam message.

NOTE: Like any automatic process, mistakes sometimes occur. If your account has been affected by such an error, please contact our support team.

If you detect a spammer on Safe-mail

If you are not a Safe-mail user and suspect that a Safe-mail.net account or e-mail address is being used by a spammer, please check here to see if it is already marked as a spammer on Safe-mail.net. If it is, we have already blocked the account.

If that e-mail address is not marked as a spammer's address, please send a complete copy of the spam message that you received to abuse@safe-mail.net. Make sure to include:

If your report is missing any one of these items, it may take longer for our Mail Abuse Team to properly investigate and take appropriate action.

click here to check whether a user of Safe-mail.net is marked as spammer

click here to send us notification and evidence about a spammer.

For Safe-mail.net users - you only need to forward the message to abuse@safe-mail.net directly from your Safe-mail.net account. Messages forwarded from within Safe-mail.net automatically include all the information that we need to determine whether a sender is a spammer.