Full Circle with CC/HVH Spam

MTUser2012

My website was outgrowing the VPS. I needed more resources, and given its importance to me, I was willing to pay more for hosting. So I looked at a dedicated server deal. From the posts here, I signed up with a provider for an E3 server. It took a while to get a server that would work because my business sends email, and the initial IPs were on several spam blacklists.

But eventually, I received clean IPs. In moving my site, I had some technical problems due to a Centos 6 -> Centos 7 upgrade. Finally, my site was running nicely. Very quickly, I discovered I couldn't send any email to MS accounts due to the big ban, having an IP on the CC network. Maybe this problem could be solved, but I needed to solve this problem very quickly. So I found a new host that promised totally clean IPs. The host delivered. Email to customers with MS addresses is now being delivered, sometimes it goes to spam, but that is not surprising with a new IP.

In fine tuning my new server, I am having a little trouble with my rules for spamassassin, a lot of obvious spam is getting through. In trying to see why I am getting so much, I have been checking the headers. It looks to me I need to increase the score for no rDNS and completely ban .bid domains. I also check IPs with WhoIS. What am I finding? A lot of CC/HVH.

Ah, the Joy of coming full circle.

jh

Just block their IP ranges

Thomas50

@MTUser2012 said:
My website was outgrowing the VPS. I needed more resources, and given its importance to me, I was willing to pay more for hosting. So I looked at a dedicated server deal. From the posts here, I signed up with a provider for an E3 server. It took a while to get a server that would work because my business sends email, and the initial IPs were on several spam blacklists.

But eventually, I received clean IPs. In moving my site, I had some technical problems due to a Centos 6 -> Centos 7 upgrade. Finally, my site was running nicely. Very quickly, I discovered I couldn't send any email to MS accounts due to the big ban, having an IP on the CC network. Maybe this problem could be solved, but I needed to solve this problem very quickly. So I found a new host that promised totally clean IPs. The host delivered. Email to customers with MS addresses is now being delivered, sometimes it goes to spam, but that is not surprising with a new IP.

In fine tuning my new server, I am having a little trouble with my rules for spamassassin, a lot of obvious spam is getting through. In trying to see why I am getting so much, I have been checking the headers. It looks to me I need to increase the score for no rDNS and completely ban .bid domains. I also check IPs with WhoIS. What am I finding? A lot of CC/HVH.

Ah, the Joy of coming full circle.
how many emails you send per hour?Did you warm up ip?

sin

I'm now an expert at SEO and have a room full of Viagra - spam turned my life around!

varunchopra

Buy a plan at mxroute or mailcheap. @jarland @mailcheap

ElliotJ

Email delivery is unfortunately one of those dark mystical arts of the internet. Honestly, I'd just go ahead and outsource it to @Jarland with MXRoute, if only to save a few headaches.

flatland_spider

@varunchopra said:
Buy a plan at mxroute or mailcheap. @jarland @mailcheap

>

I second this. Setup the server MTA to relay local email to the their servers to offload RBL and spam filter problems.

Being in control is nice, but maintaining spam filters can take a lot of time.

mailcheap

Drop me a PM if interested: Dedicated SMTP relay.

Pavin.