Further information on SpamAssassin spam scores
The following shows the mail headers from a message identified as spam by SpamAssassin.
From: "Dario Mock"
To:
Cc:
Subject: {Spam?} zwp acbe h
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 03 17:32:48 GMT
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook, Build 10.0.2627
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="_7.B7D_D6AE705"
X-StAndrewsMailScanner-Information: Please contact the ISP for more information
X-StAndrewsMailScanner: No virus detected
X-StAndrewsMailScanner-SpamCheck: spam, MAPS-RBL+, SpamAssassin(score=12.3, required 5, BAYES_90, DATE_IN_FUTURE_03_06, FORGED_MUA_OUTLOOK, FROM_HAS_MIXED_NUMS, MISSING_MIMEOLE, NASTY_GIRLS, REMOVE_PAGE, SEMIFORGED_HOTMAIL_RCVD, WHY_WAIT) X-StAndrewsMailScanner-SpamScore: ssssssssssss
X-UIDL: d6de1523a7cdf12bcc34a646a300a988
The X-StAndrewsMailScanner-Spamcheck header lists the names of the spam tests which were used for this particular message.
- Some of the tests (NASTY_GIRLS and WHY_WAIT for example) relate to the content of the message.
- Others (such as FROM_HAS_MIXED_NUMS) relate to the headers.
- The message was also identified as coming from an address which is on a blacklist used by MailScanner: MAPS-RBL.
Each test carries a score, and the combined scores come to 12.3. This is expressed in the SpamScore header as ssssssssssss (the letter s repeated 12 times. Because the score is over the threshold of five the message is flagged as {Spam?}.
The SpamAssassin web site gives a list of the tests and scores.
