Reputation-based filtering is an email security technique that evaluates the sender’s reputation based on IP address, domain, and historical behavior to determine whether an email should be delivered, flagged as spam, or blocked.
Reputation-based filtering relies on the trustworthiness of the sending source rather than analyzing only the email’s content. Email servers use reputation scores assigned to IP addresses and domains based on factors like:
A positive reputation improves deliverability, while a negative reputation increases the likelihood of emails being flagged as spam or rejected.
The process generally includes:
Many ISPs and email security services use real-time blackhole lists (RBLs) and feedback loops as part of this filtering approach.
This filtering method is crucial because it:
Without reputation-based filtering, spam networks could easily bypass content checks by constantly changing email formats.
Reputation-based filtering is used for:
Example scenario: An ISP uses reputation-based filtering to block emails from an IP address that recently sent phishing emails, preventing those messages from reaching users’ inboxes.
Yes, by reducing spam complaints, authenticating emails with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, and maintaining clean mailing lists.
No. It works best when combined with content filtering, authentication checks, and behavioral analysis.
Yes. On shared IPs, your reputation can be impacted by other senders’ actions.
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