Modify Calculated Spam Scores

In the Spam Filter in cPanel (SpamAssassin), the calculated spam score settings determine the threshold at which an email is classified as spam based on a combination of heuristic rules, Bayesian filtering, and other techniques.

These settings typically involve adjusting scores for various criteria such as header analysis, content analysis, and sender reputation.

By fine-tuning these parameters, you can customize SpamAssassin's sensitivity to accurately classify spam while minimizing false positives, ensuring efficient email filtering and protecting against unwanted messages.

This guide reviews why an email wasn't filtered as spam and how to update the spam scores to ensure future spam emails will be filtered.

Related Articles

Enable Spam Filters
Change SpamAssassin Spam Threshold Score

Review Scores in Email

1. Check Email in Webmail
2. In Roundcube, locate the specific spam email that wasn't filtered
3. Open the email
4. View the email headers by selecting Headers
   
5. In the pop-up, scroll down to the X-Ham-Report
   IMPORTANT: If spam filtering isn't enabled, this won't be available in the email headers.  You'll need to enable spam filtering first.

6. Review the listed scores
   EXAMPLE:

       1.2 RCVD_IN_BL_SPAMCOP_NET RBL: Received via a relay in
       bl.spamcop.net
       [Blocked - see ]
       0.0 HTML_MESSAGE BODY: HTML included in message
       2.0 PYZOR_CHECK Listed in Pyzor
       (https://pyzor.readthedocs.io/en/latest/)
       1.1 FSL_BULK_SIG Bulk signature with no Unsubscribe

7. Make note of any candidates that could have higher scores
   NOTE: Increasing the value of a score raises the overall spam score for future similar emails, making them more likely to be correctly filtered as spam.
   TIP: Each score has a short description of why it was applied next to it.  For example, this email included the score for HTML_MESSAGE because it contained HTML in the body of the email.

Modify Spam Scores

1. Log into the cPanel
2. Navigate to Spam Filters, located in the Email section
   
3. Click Show Additional Configurations
   
    
4. Click Configure Calculated Spam Score Settings
   
    
5. Click Add A New "scores" Item
    
6. Select the appropriate score from the list
   EXAMPLE:
   
7. Adjust the score's value as appropriate
   TIP: You generally only want to raise this high enough that the email scores higher than your spam threshold.
8. Click Update Scoring Options
   NOTE: While this won't modify any emails already received, future emails will be judged using the updated score value.