[Maia-users] I know how it works, but...

[Robert LeBlanc]

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Kurt Buff wrote:

> Management has gotten a bit paranoid after showing them how it works.
> 
> They wish to have the ability to quarantine mails that score enough points
> in such a fashion that normal users can't rescue them, but administrators
> can.
> 
> The fear is that a user might accidentally or on purpose rescue email with
> naughty pictures or words, and offend either themselves or their neighbors.
> 
> I have tried to point out that a score is not indicative of the type of
> content, nor does any score correlate with level of offensiveness, nor does
> a lack of spam score guarantee that something naughty might not slip
> through, but they are being obstinate on this.

Well, if you're in the mood to do a tiny bit of code-hacking, it
wouldn't be too difficult to modify the SQL query that gets used to
generate the spam quarantine list (the set_select() function in
cache.php), such that items that score higher than X don't get returned
unless the user happens to be an administrator.

This issue raises another possibility for future versions of Maia,
though--the ability to quarantine not only by score, but by "rule
class."  That is, it might be convenient for the super-administrator to
be able to define some rule categories and then assign SpamAssassin rule
names to those categories.  Then the quarantine rules could be extended
such that regardless of the mail's score, a hit on any rule in a given
category would be sufficient to quarantine it.  For instance, you could
then define a category called, say, "Porn Rules", and assign a bunch of
the relevant SpamAssassin rules to that category.  If you then mark the
"Porn Rules" category as "quarantine on sight," or somesuch, then any of
those rules triggering on an email would be enough to quarantine it (or
discard it, or whatever).

This would have the added benefit of providing a kind of classification
system for the spam you receive, if only for statistical purposes--you
could pie-chart for your bosses what percentage of the spam you receive
is porn-related, what percentage are phishing attempts, stock fraud, etc.

- --
Robert LeBlanc <rjl at renaissoft.com>
Renaissoft, Inc.
Maia Mailguard <http://www.maiamailguard.com/>

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