You are viewing a plain text version of this content. The canonical link for it is here.
Posted to users@spamassassin.apache.org by Scott Wertz <sw...@gmail.com> on 2005/01/07 22:48:49 UTC

Implicit trust of surbl and sbl

I think this is an easy question, but I haven't been able to find an
answer.  If I'm using spamassassin 3, invoking it via procmail as just
'spamassassin' and testing for the result, and I trust that any message
carrying a URL that's listed on surbl.org or spamhaus.org is 100% spam,
what file(s) would I edit and how?

In other words, I've never seen a false positive on either of those BLs,
but I'm seeing spam that meets those tests and is still weighted less
than 5.  I want to change that.


Re: Implicit trust of surbl and sbl

Posted by Jim Maul <jm...@elih.org>.
Louis LeBlanc wrote:
> On 01/07/05 05:05 PM, Scott Wertz sat at the `puter and typed:
> 
>>On Fri, 2005-01-07 at 16:58, Louis LeBlanc wrote:
>>
>>
>>>>Couldn't you just increase the scores to 100?
>>>
>>>That would be tha answer.  I believe "how" might also have been part of
>>>that question.
>>
>>I thought it was...sorry if I wasn't clear, but "how" is exactly what
>>I'm after.
>>
>>
>>>Search for the URIBL_* keys in your
>>>/mumblemumble/share/spamassassin/50_scores.cf.  For instance:
>>>  score URIBL_WS_SURBL 0 0.539 0 1.462
>>>
>>>So you might want to add the following to your user_prefs:
>>>score URIBL_WS_SURBL 0 100 0 100
>>>
>>>Just make sure you read the descriptions for each in the 25_uribl.cf
>>>file before changing anything.
>>>
>>>HTH
>>
>>That's a big help, thanks.  But is there a way to do that on a per-user
>>basis?
> 
> 
> That *is* the per-user basis.  Each user has a
> ~/.spamassassin/user_prefs file.  Just put your score mods there.
> 
> Modifying the local.cf file is usually not the best way to tweak SA.
> Modifying the users' user_prefs file usually is.
> 

Unless you dont allow user_prefs and everything is site-wide like mine ;)

-Jim

Re: Implicit trust of surbl and sbl

Posted by Louis LeBlanc <sp...@keyslapper.org>.
On 01/07/05 05:17 PM, Scott Wertz sat at the `puter and typed:

> I'm really regretting my new year's resolution to switch to
> decaf.

Blasphemer!!! :)


-- 
Louis LeBlanc          spamassassin@keyslapper.org
Fully Funded Hobbyist, KeySlapper Extrordinaire :)
http://www.keyslapper.org                     Ô¿Ô¬

>From the moment I picked your book up until I put it down I was convulsed
with laughter.  Some day I intend reading it.
    -- Groucho Marx, from "The Book of Insults"

Re: Implicit trust of surbl and sbl

Posted by Scott Wertz <sw...@gmail.com>.
On Fri, 2005-01-07 at 17:10, Louis LeBlanc wrote:

> > > 
> > > So you might want to add the following to your user_prefs:
> > > score URIBL_WS_SURBL 0 100 0 100


> That *is* the per-user basis.  Each user has a
> ~/.spamassassin/user_prefs file.  Just put your score mods there.

<forehead slap>

So it is.  I'm really regretting my new year's resolution to switch to
decaf.

Thanks again!



Re: Implicit trust of surbl and sbl

Posted by Louis LeBlanc <sp...@keyslapper.org>.
On 01/07/05 05:05 PM, Scott Wertz sat at the `puter and typed:
> On Fri, 2005-01-07 at 16:58, Louis LeBlanc wrote:
> 
> > > Couldn't you just increase the scores to 100?
> > 
> > That would be tha answer.  I believe "how" might also have been part of
> > that question.
> 
> I thought it was...sorry if I wasn't clear, but "how" is exactly what
> I'm after.
> 
> > 
> > Search for the URIBL_* keys in your
> > /mumblemumble/share/spamassassin/50_scores.cf.  For instance:
> >   score URIBL_WS_SURBL 0 0.539 0 1.462
> > 
> > So you might want to add the following to your user_prefs:
> > score URIBL_WS_SURBL 0 100 0 100
> > 
> > Just make sure you read the descriptions for each in the 25_uribl.cf
> > file before changing anything.
> > 
> > HTH
> 
> That's a big help, thanks.  But is there a way to do that on a per-user
> basis?

That *is* the per-user basis.  Each user has a
~/.spamassassin/user_prefs file.  Just put your score mods there.

Modifying the local.cf file is usually not the best way to tweak SA.
Modifying the users' user_prefs file usually is.

HTH
Lou
-- 
Louis LeBlanc          spamassassin@keyslapper.org
Fully Funded Hobbyist, KeySlapper Extrordinaire :)
http://www.keyslapper.org                     Ô¿Ô¬

Flon's Law:
  There is not now, and never will be, a language in
  which it is the least bit difficult to write bad programs.

Re: Implicit trust of surbl and sbl

Posted by Scott Wertz <sw...@gmail.com>.
On Fri, 2005-01-07 at 16:58, Louis LeBlanc wrote:

> > Couldn't you just increase the scores to 100?
> 
> That would be tha answer.  I believe "how" might also have been part of
> that question.

I thought it was...sorry if I wasn't clear, but "how" is exactly what
I'm after.

> 
> Search for the URIBL_* keys in your
> /mumblemumble/share/spamassassin/50_scores.cf.  For instance:
>   score URIBL_WS_SURBL 0 0.539 0 1.462
> 
> So you might want to add the following to your user_prefs:
> score URIBL_WS_SURBL 0 100 0 100
> 
> Just make sure you read the descriptions for each in the 25_uribl.cf
> file before changing anything.
> 
> HTH

That's a big help, thanks.  But is there a way to do that on a per-user
basis?



Re: Implicit trust of surbl and sbl

Posted by Louis LeBlanc <sp...@keyslapper.org>.
On 01/07/05 09:51 PM, Michele Neylon::Blacknight Solutions sat at the `puter and typed:
> Scott Wertz wrote:
> > I think this is an easy question, but I haven't been able to find an
> > answer.  If I'm using spamassassin 3, invoking it via procmail as just
> > 'spamassassin' and testing for the result, and I trust that any message
> > carrying a URL that's listed on surbl.org or spamhaus.org is 100% spam,
> > what file(s) would I edit and how?
> > 
> > In other words, I've never seen a false positive on either of those BLs,
> > but I'm seeing spam that meets those tests and is still weighted less
> > than 5.  I want to change that.
> > 
> >
> Couldn't you just increase the scores to 100?

That would be tha answer.  I believe "how" might also have been part of
that question.

Search for the URIBL_* keys in your
/mumblemumble/share/spamassassin/50_scores.cf.  For instance:
  score URIBL_WS_SURBL 0 0.539 0 1.462

So you might want to add the following to your user_prefs:
score URIBL_WS_SURBL 0 100 0 100

Just make sure you read the descriptions for each in the 25_uribl.cf
file before changing anything.

HTH
Lou
-- 
Louis LeBlanc          spamassassin@keyslapper.org
Fully Funded Hobbyist, KeySlapper Extrordinaire :)
http://www.keyslapper.org                     Ô¿Ô¬

If God is perfect, why did He create discontinuous functions?

Re: Implicit trust of surbl and sbl

Posted by "Michele Neylon::Blacknight Solutions" <mi...@blacknightsolutions.com>.
Scott Wertz wrote:
> I think this is an easy question, but I haven't been able to find an
> answer.  If I'm using spamassassin 3, invoking it via procmail as just
> 'spamassassin' and testing for the result, and I trust that any message
> carrying a URL that's listed on surbl.org or spamhaus.org is 100% spam,
> what file(s) would I edit and how?
> 
> In other words, I've never seen a false positive on either of those BLs,
> but I'm seeing spam that meets those tests and is still weighted less
> than 5.  I want to change that.
> 
>
Couldn't you just increase the scores to 100?



-- 
Email scanned by Blacknight for viruses and dangerous content.
Visit http://www.blacknight.ie for more information


Re: Implicit trust of surbl and sbl

Posted by Jeff Chan <je...@surbl.org>.
On Friday, January 7, 2005, 2:03:48 PM, William Stearns wrote:
>         I personally have trust in the surbl's, so I have no problem
> recommending that people increase the score if they want.  Might I humbly 
> recommend increasing the surbl score to something between 2 and 5, so that 
> if surbl screws up for your particular mail flow the other rules have a 
> chance of reining it in?
>         Cheers,
>         - Bill

I second that suggestion.  Don't boost the scores to 100,
but something like 2 to 5 so there's still some defense
against false positives.  Our FP rate is low, but non-zero.

Jeff C.
-- 
Jeff Chan
mailto:jeffc@surbl.org
http://www.surbl.org/


Re: Implicit trust of surbl and sbl

Posted by Louis LeBlanc <sp...@keyslapper.org>.
On 01/07/05 05:03 PM, William Stearns sat at the `puter and typed:
> Good evening, Scott,
> 
> On Fri, 7 Jan 2005, Scott Wertz wrote:
> 
> > I think this is an easy question, but I haven't been able to find an
> > answer.  If I'm using spamassassin 3, invoking it via procmail as just
> > 'spamassassin' and testing for the result, and I trust that any message
> > carrying a URL that's listed on surbl.org or spamhaus.org is 100% spam,
> > what file(s) would I edit and how?
> >
> > In other words, I've never seen a false positive on either of those BLs,
> > but I'm seeing spam that meets those tests and is still weighted less
> > than 5.  I want to change that.
> 
>  	As Michele correctly pointed out, you're certainly welcome to 
> drive up the scores quite a bit so that emails with an surbl-listed domain 
> are much more likely to cross 5.0.
>  	However, even though Jeff Chan will likely shoot me for saying it 
> ;-), surbl's can and occasionally do have false positives.  Let's use 
> Gevalia coffee as an example.  I'll blacklist their domain because they 
> regularly send me UBE.  However, Gevalia has legitimate customers; for 
> those individuals, email from that domain is _not_ UBE, it's solicited 
> mail.  (Just for reference, we removed gevalia.com because there were 
> legitimate uses for it...)
>  	I personally have trust in the surbl's, so I have no problem 
> recommending that people increase the score if they want.  Might I humbly 
> recommend increasing the surbl score to something between 2 and 5, so that 
> if surbl screws up for your particular mail flow the other rules have a 
> chance of reining it in?


Excellent suggestion.  Shoulda made it myself in my other posts.  It's
been mentioned a number of times that scoring a test at 100 is almost
always a bad idea.  Boosting the scores to allow them to swing a bigger
bat - although one that can potentially be overridden by very low bayes
scores - is usually ok.

Lou
-- 
Louis LeBlanc          spamassassin@keyslapper.org
Fully Funded Hobbyist, KeySlapper Extrordinaire :)
http://www.keyslapper.org                     Ô¿Ô¬

Information Processing:
  What you call data processing when people are so disgusted with
  it they won't let it be discussed in their presence.

Re: Implicit trust of surbl and sbl

Posted by William Stearns <ws...@pobox.com>.
Good evening, Scott,

On Fri, 7 Jan 2005, Scott Wertz wrote:

> I think this is an easy question, but I haven't been able to find an
> answer.  If I'm using spamassassin 3, invoking it via procmail as just
> 'spamassassin' and testing for the result, and I trust that any message
> carrying a URL that's listed on surbl.org or spamhaus.org is 100% spam,
> what file(s) would I edit and how?
>
> In other words, I've never seen a false positive on either of those BLs,
> but I'm seeing spam that meets those tests and is still weighted less
> than 5.  I want to change that.

 	As Michele correctly pointed out, you're certainly welcome to 
drive up the scores quite a bit so that emails with an surbl-listed domain 
are much more likely to cross 5.0.
 	However, even though Jeff Chan will likely shoot me for saying it 
;-), surbl's can and occasionally do have false positives.  Let's use 
Gevalia coffee as an example.  I'll blacklist their domain because they 
regularly send me UBE.  However, Gevalia has legitimate customers; for 
those individuals, email from that domain is _not_ UBE, it's solicited 
mail.  (Just for reference, we removed gevalia.com because there were 
legitimate uses for it...)
 	I personally have trust in the surbl's, so I have no problem 
recommending that people increase the score if they want.  Might I humbly 
recommend increasing the surbl score to something between 2 and 5, so that 
if surbl screws up for your particular mail flow the other rules have a 
chance of reining it in?
 	Cheers,
 	- Bill

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
         "Patience is a minor form of despair, disguised as virtue."
         -- Ambrose Bierce, on qualifiers
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
William Stearns (wstearns@pobox.com).  Mason, Buildkernel, freedups, p0f,
rsync-backup, ssh-keyinstall, dns-check, more at:   http://www.stearns.org
--------------------------------------------------------------------------