MailScanner

Recently installed an update/add-on to cPanel for Birdhouse Hosting – a package called MailScanner which integrates the usual complement of open source spam and virus controls (SpamAssassin, ClamAV, Razor, DCC) into a combined package, provides more spam config controls for individual hosting accounts, and provides the admin with a bunch of reporting tools. I can now see at a glance (graphically) how many messages are passing through the server each day, what percentage of them have been flagged as spam or virii, or drill down and get similar reports for individual domains or users. At left: A snapshot of mail and spam traffic on Birdhouse over the past week:

Highlights:
10,000 total messages processed on 10/16
77.8% of mail was flagged as spam today
(read that last one another way: less than 23% of the mail we’re spending money to process and handle is legitimate)

If you’re wistful for the good old days when you could use a “catch-all” address to receive mail bound for anything@yourdomain.com, note: 5,016 out of 6,449 messages received today were addressed to unknown email accounts on domains we handle. Which is why most hosts (including Birdhouse) strongly recommend against using catch-all addresses any more. Spammers 0wnz0r the ozone.