Moving to a State-of-the-art, In-house Built Spam Protection Solution
When you’re busy processing tons of emails each day, and we all are, the last thing you need is a bunch of spam messages sneaking into your inbox. Spam protection has always been an important part of our email service and in our strive to constantly improve it we are now introducing a new in-house built solution. It is designed to efficiently minimize the amount of SPAM emails delivered to your inbox, while constantly learning from your email reading behavior. It is also built specifically for our clients and works seamlessly as part of our hosting environment.
Efficient and easy to use for our clients
Less SPAM messages delivered to your inbox
Based on our multiple years of managing email services, we have created a system that decides with a high amount of accuracy which messages are legitimate and should reach your inbox, which are suspicious and should be delivered in your Junk folder, and which are outright dangerous and should not reach your email at all and will bounce instead.
Your email reading behavior trains the system
Your natural actions, while working with your mailbox will train the system. Whenever you move a message to or from your Junk folder you will improve its accuracy. Based on your action the system will add your personal perception of what is SPAM on top of its own underlying rules. Thus your feedback is taken into account seamlessly, without a need for you to use an additional SPAM management interface.
Easy interface to allow and block senders
And also, if you would like to tell the Spam protection system directly how to treat a certain sender, you can still use our easy interface to block or allow specific senders. By adding an email address or an entire domain to the Block or Allow List you indicate how you want this sender to be treated by the system. Check the following tutorial on how to use the Spam Protection service in Site Tools.
Better control and easier scalability for us
We may address our clients’ needs
By using an in-house solution we can more easily address our clients’ specific needs and introduce new features and improvements faster. For example, we have noticed that the current setup makes it difficult for our users to find out when a legitimate email is not delivered to them and is marked as spam by the system. This happens because the message is placed in a quarantine folder in a separate tool that is not part of the user’s natural email management. With the new solution we were able to address this issue by using the much more visible Junk folder instead.
We may handle email usage spike better
When we manage the spam protection system as part of our own infrastructure, we can easily scale it. Even if there is a steep global increase in the email traffic we can seamlessly add the resources needed for the evaluation of the excessive messages. Thus the email delivery will not be delayed for our clients, regardless of the unexpected usage spike.
How to start using the new Spam Protection?
We have started migrating our clients’ sites from the current Spam protection solution to the new one and the process will continue over the next year. Email notifications will be sent for each site, when it has been migrated. For domain names that are pointed to SiteGround nameservers there will be no action required by the user and the migration will be automatically done by us. The rest will be provided with the correct new MX records they need to use, when the new system starts to be available for them.
Comments ( 33 )
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Philip
Looking forward to seeing what this has to offer. I find the current system quite complicated so hopefully this will simplify things. So for your transition to in-house, simplified services has been excellent and hugely appreciated
Ivan Naidenov Siteground Team
Hey, Philip! Appreciate the positive feedback. This tells us we're moving in the right direction to better serve our customers' needs. We're excited for you to try the new in-house Spam Protection and we'll be listening closely to our client's feedback.
Robert
Ahah, now I know why so many spam came in last days. Never had the issue like in last week.
Ivan Naidenov Siteground Team
Hey Robert! We do lots of testing before releasing any new tool. Our major goal is to introduce improvements and we're not satisfied with anything less. The new Spam Protection performed highly both in our tests and when used by actual users. That's why we'll be glad to take a look at your account, check any spam examples, and help out. Let's connect - please reach us from the Help Center: https://stgrnd.co/contactus/ . All the best - the SiteGround Team.
Jim
You mention that the new system is trained by moving email in and out of the Junk box. Does this only refer to email accounts that use IMAP and or Webmail? I didn't think that the server could get any feedback on email that is moved in and out of Junk in Apple's Mail using POP for instance. And if it just trains via IMAP or Webmail, and the server chooses to put mail in Junk, then how can a POP client easily discover what the server is doing in Junk without logging in to Webmail? I have one low use email account on a domain that I manage that just transitioned to the new system, and the main users with high volume email just informed me that their spam went from just a few a day to dozens. They use POP and are concerned the new system is filtering legit email into a Junk folder they don't have quick access to without regularly using Webmail. I have many other accounts and domains I manage with close to a hundred email accounts, so it would be good to understand this system fully, sooner than later.
Gabriela Andonova Siteground Team
Hi Jim, and thanks for the detailed comment! In order to address your concerns, let us clarify in more detail how the self-learning mechanism of our Spam Protection system works. The brand-new tool is designed to automatically learn from user behavior only when using the Webmail interface or a local email client with IMAP setup. This way the system adds users’ personal preferences on top of our pre-defined underlying SPAM-filtering rules. With the use of POP3, however, which is the case in question, all folders and emails you see via the local email client are already downloaded to the device itself. So the actions you take to move messages from/to the Junk folder are local to your computer as well. And because of this, the server cannot collect the necessary information to “learn” from them. Having in mind these specifics, POP3 users will need to set their personal preferences manually through the interface in Site Tools (by adding certain emails/domains to their Block and Allow lists, for example) – they still benefit from the Spam Protection built-in default rules, but at the moment POP3 users’ custom preferences are not recorded automatically. The new product has processed millions of emails by now and we have not received reports of an increase in spam. So, we’d be happy to look into the specific case you mention. Please reach out to our support team at your convenience: https://stgrnd.co/contactus
Keeth
Great question Jim. +1
Steven
On the plus side: 1. I was never a fan of SpamExperts, for me, there had been numerous issues and it was too much for my needs. 2. I use Email Filters a lot to discard messages from certain Top Level Domains as listed on the SpamHaus website ie .monster, .beauty, etc. 3. The UX/UI is minimalistic and pleasant/user-friendly to enter data. On the negative side: 1. I didn't get any notification of a change, it came as a surprise, one day I had SpamExperts, and the next day I didn't. It would have been great to have done a backup from SpamExperts prior to this happening. 2. As yet I can't find a way of exporting what I have entered in the spam protection or filter section, I like to keep a record in a database and migrate the data into another domain, at the moment I have to double entry. The benefits outweigh the negatives and I'm pleased Siteground has gone in the direction. Particularly as you now have control over changes to the system whereas on SpamExperts it appeared they wouldn't make changes unless a wider community of web hosts wanted them.
Gabriela Andonova Siteground Team
Hey Steven, thank you for the comment and the detailed feedback! We are glad to hear you are enjoying the new tool - we’ll definitely forward your suggestion for a “bulk filter export/import” functionality for consideration. And about the migration notifications, they are automatically sent to the client's account admin email once the migration has been successfully completed. Currently, we are working on transferring clients with Siteground-hosted DNS zones, so the transition should be smooth with no additional steps required at the end of the client.
Teemu
This is great, but when will we get 2 factor authentication implemented to email also?
gabrielaandonova Siteground Team
Thank you for the great question, Teemu! Adding 2FA authentication to emails is definitely something we'll consider with future service updates.
Giles
Still missing a vital email feature over Cpanel's offering which is the ability to clear down mail older than a year etc. This is the biggest feature I miss. Hopefully the team will consider this in the future. Great work on the new migration system and spam filter though I am excited to use.
Gabriela Andonova Siteground Team
Thank you for the kind words, Giles! Currently, we are working on a feature specifically for the Junk/Spam folder where older emails will be automatically cleared. But we’ll definitely keep your suggestion in mind as well.
Peter Chubbock
I have found the current spam protection (Spam Experts) to be first class. The benefit is obvious, rather than having an inbox full of spam albeit in the junk folder that is taking up valuable space on the server and adding to your valuable account quota. It's been my experience that customers don't delete junk emails and just leave them using using up more space overtime. Personally I not convinced your in house solution will be any better than spam experts you are currently using, and if I was too hazard a guess it's because spam experts is a more expensive option.
Gabriela Andonova Siteground Team
Thank you for your comment, Peter. We’ve also thought about the potential storage issue you mention and we will make sure the Junk/Spam folder is automatically and regularly cleared in order to prevent such problems. We appreciate your feedback about the new solution and understand your concerns. However, we would like to assure you that our new Spam Protection has been extensively tested before moving forward. Every time we replace a given technical solution we are guided by the core principle - to offer an even better service.
Angelo Cannata
Hello, I was happy with Spam Experts because it had an extremely important feature: it was possible to completely disable it, so that I didn’t need to worry about loosing messages put in the bin by Spam Experts. Now I see that the new system cannot be disabled, so you have just added an additional worry for me about the possibility of loosing emails. You are forcing me to undergo your spamming filter. Is there any solution to this problem?
Gabriela Andonova Siteground Team
Hello Angelo, thank you for this comment. To provide a bit more clarity here is some more information about Spam Filter activation. Both Spam Experts and our new Spam Protection Solution are activated when SiteGround MX records are applied to the domain name. Once MX records are fully propagated, filtering is active for both incoming and outgoing emails and is only disabled when the MX records are pointed elsewhere. Disabling the filtering of emails completely would result in all emails detected as spam being delivered to the server unfiltered, posing a security risk. The new Spam Protection Solution was designed to provide both security and ease of use. Any message that is perceived as suspicious will be delivered to your email account’s Junk folder where it will be easily accessible for review. If the message is then moved into the Inbox, the software will be trained not to forward such messages to the Junk folder. Instead, it will deliver them directly to your Inbox in the future. This natural behavior of the user trains the software so it will take all your personal preferences into account and add them on top of our pre-defined underlying SPAM-filtering rules.
Consciousness
I have this same concern. I NEVER use Webmail, as I get it all forwarded or POP3, so now the new system is forcing to add extra labor on my end to check the Webmail to see if any LEGITIMATE emails were put into Junk and thus NOT forwarded/POP3’ed. It turns out lo and behold, yes there were legitimate emails hidden in the Webmail Junk folder that did NOT get forwarded or POP3’ed. This new system adds extra labor for anyone who doesn’t use Webmail if we’re at all concerned about legitimate emails getting marked Spam — which in my experience seems to ALWAYS be the case with spam filters (they ALWAYS mark some legitimate emails as “spam”). How can we disable it entirely?? I don’t need it or want it and it creates extra work for me which is the opposite of its assumed intention.
Gabriela Andonova Siteground Team
Thanks for sharing your concern. I understand there's extra effort involved in checking webmail for legitimate emails that might have been marked as spam. Still, our spam filter is designed to minimize the number of unwanted emails reaching your inbox and increase the security of your mailboxes. Thus we strongly advise against disabling the filter. In cases where POP3 users' filters misclassify legitimate emails as spam, moving them from the Junk folder via webmail is the most effective solution. The filter learns from the user's email reading behavior when messages are moved from/to Junk, reducing such cases in time. However, if you'd rather not use webmail, I recommend reaching out to our tech support team via our ticketing system. This will enable them to investigate further and advise on the most suitable solution: https://stgrnd.co/contactus
John Bagwell
I have been having problems with bots sending spam forms through WPForms account. Will this help with that? If not, can you recommend something. I see a program called "CleanTalk" that people say will work.
Gabriela Andonova Siteground Team
Thank you for commenting, John. The Spam Protection Solution we’ve created is an essential part of our email service. It protects and filters incoming and outgoing email messages sent from/to email accounts hosted with SiteGround. The WPForms you are referring to can be protected from spam by installing a reliable CAPTCHA plugin. This WordPress Spam Protection tutorial has specific recommendations you might like to consider.
Neal Fox
So glad to hear this. I've had no success with the current system. WAY too complicated. Thanks.
Gabriela Andonova Siteground Team
It's great to hear you like our new solution, Neal! One of our main objectives when designing it was to make it as intuitive and user-friendly as possible. We appreciate your feedback!
Jeff
On both the previous anti-spam and the new in-house solution, many legitimate emails from trusted contacts are no longer arriving; in fact, they do not even make it to my Junk folder. In response, I have added these to my Anti-Spam "Allow List," both as domain-level (domain.com) and as specific email addresses (name@domain.com). Neither have helped. Any suggestions to prevent such heavy-handed spam filtering? Thanks!
Gabriela Andonova Siteground Team
Thanks for the comment, Jeff. By design, whenever our spam filter suspects an email to be spam, it is redirected to the Junk folder of the recipient's email account for review. Moving such emails into the Inbox and/or adding their addresses to the Allow list, ensures future messages from that specific sender will be directed to the Inbox instead of the Junk folder. In light of this, what you are experiencing may be the result of some unrelated deliverability issues with the email addresses/domains in question. It would be best to contact Support about this so our experts can investigate the case further and advise on the most appropriate course of action: https://stgrnd.co/contactus
Stacy
Thank you so much for the update
Alex
If you’re upgrading your email service can you provision hard drive space instead of SSD for emails and therefore give the emails dedicated storage space? Sharing web nvme with emails isn’t really a good decision, and it’s wasteful. I would love to keep using siteground emails for all my clients but the storage limits sharing is a really issue; I’ve done the math and iCloud+ is currently the best performing low cost email system around for custom domain names. You guys always take good advice like the ip blocking and more and really have made yourself a bigger and better service; I love how you listen to users! But the emails right now are a huge issue, even migrating emails to another service is a pain in the butt; but look at iCloud+ I can get unlimited email space with iCloud+ for $1 a month for 5 custom emails - if siteground expanded their service price wise, or expanded a new system where emails per site are like 5 at 10gb each for free and additional are paid for at x amount. All I know is a lot of competitors do something similar, or push you into Microsoft exchange, google workspace but again a lot of clients are small businesses and added costs destroy them; if you turned siteground emails into more storage but one of the more cost effective systems I would absolutely love siteground; because I could scale users here. Could easily get more accounts to upgrade to higher plans if you used emails upgrades as a perk added for gogeek too! Thanks again, hope to see this happen one day!
Gabriela Andonova Siteground Team
We appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts, Alex! With SiteGround’s servers, email is included as a complementary service to the website hosting. It’s intended to meet standard business communication needs which is why even though users can create unlimited email accounts, each can store up to 10 GB of data. Once again, thank you for your feedback - we’ll definitely keep it in mind since we’re always looking for ways to offer even more value and benefits to our clients.
Steve
Hi Siteground, with your new in-house spam protection system, I think you should have an option (i.e. a setting that's changeable by users) for emails identified as spam to be kept in the "Inbox" and marked as "spam" (e.g. by adding the word "[spam]" or similar to the email's subject heading), rather than moved to the "Junk" folder. This was possible with the previous third party spam protection system. The reason this is important is because some users use POP3 to access emails, which means that the "Junk" folder isn't viewable (albeit without viewing it online via Webmail, which adds an extra process).
Gabriela Andonova Siteground Team
Hey Steve, thanks for commenting and for the suggestion! We really appreciate you sharing your feedback with us, and we'll definitely consider it.
Consciousness
Agreed!!!
Tim M
I was a big fan of the quarantine feature with spam experts which blocked me getting around 30 emails per day to junk folder. I do think the new in-house method is poorer at detecting pure spam. Would be better if you guys introduced a quarantine feature like spam experts which saves the user having to sift through 100’s spam emails daily in mail client. Agree with comments here that it is to save money as definitely adds more work for users. Also another issue is spam emails taking up lots of server space. Will have to see how it goes as already getting 30-40 spam emails to junk folder daily whereas around 2-3 using spam experts. The only reason I moved to siteground in first place was to take advantage of spam experts which worked great. Bit disappointing to be honest but will give you guys chance to resolve. Regards Tim
Gabriela Andonova Siteground Team
Thank you for sharing your feedback and concerns, Tim. While we understand the value of the quarantine feature in reducing spam emails in the actual mailbox, when testing this feature it proved too complex and time-consuming for the majority of users who often did not even check it. It was one thing we wanted to address with our in-house Spam Protection and allow users to easily review and release emails flagged as spam within their email accounts (instead of having to log in to a third-party platform every day to do so). Users can now train the software by simply moving messages from/to Junk. Additionally, we have implemented rules to automatically delete emails in Junk folder older than 60 days to manage server space consumption. Working with our own solution gives us the freedom and ability to make changes, address clients' concerns, and enhance service performance. With that said we also want to say we appreciate your loyalty and take your feedback seriously - we'll definitely consider your suggestions. And if there are any specific issues you'd like us to check and help with, feel free to contact our advanced technical team through our ticketing system anytime: https://stgrnd.co/contactus
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