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BoxTrapper

BoxTrapper is a feature that requires senders who email you to verify they're not bots/spammers. We recommend setting up email filters before resorting to boxtrapper, but, for personal accounts that don't receive emails from vendors, boxtrapper is an amazing way to mitigate spam.

How boxtrapper works

When an account with BoxTrapper enabled receives an email that doesn't meet the score threshold (Aggressive by default), BoxTrapper automatically sends a verification email in response. The sender must complete the verification process before the email can pass to your inbox. If the sender does not verify the email, the verification fails, and BoxTrapper never clears the message for delivery. After 15 days (Adjustable), the system automatically deletes the unauthenticated messages.

Be aware that you'll need to manually audit the review queue frequently to ensure automated messages from vendors get through.

Note

When you enable BoxTrapper, it whitelists any email address to which you send email.

Enable BoxTrapper

To enable BoxTrapper, follow these steps:

  1. Login to cPanel
  2. Navigate to boxtrapper.
  3. Click "Manage" for the account you wish to modify.
  4. Click "Enable."

With it enabled, now any time someone sends you an email for the first time they'll get a message in response that looks something like this:

The message you sent requires that you verify that you
are a real live human being and not a spam source.

To complete this verification, simply reply to this message and leave
the subject line intact.


Or, you can click the following link:

After the user either selects the link, or replies & sends yet another message, the original email they've sent will be delivered. Future emails from them will automatically pass through to your inbox.

Review Queue

You'll want to schedule at least a weekly audit of the review queue. You can login & manage the review queue via webmail, or by logging into cPanel.

Accessing boxtrapper via Webmail

  1. Login to webmail
  2. If you're inside your inbox (roundcube), select webmail home on the left. From there select boxtrapper.
  3. Click "Review Queue" to view any unverified BoxTrapper mail.

Accessing boxtrapper via cPanel

  1. Login to cPanel
  2. Navigate to boxtrapper
  3. Select manage next to the related account.
  4. Click "Review Queue" to view any unverified BoxTrapper mail.

Select messages for delivery

To deliver or delete emails, follow these steps:

  1. Select the checkbox for the desired day.
  2. Select "Delete" or "Whitelist and Deliver."
  3. Click "Submit."

Review the contents of a message

To see the contents of a message, follow these steps:

  1. Click the email's sender, subject, or date to see the entire message, headers, and more delivery options. For example, you can ignore or blacklist a sender.
  2. Select the option for which you wish to filter.
  3. Click "Go."

Adjusting BoxTrapper Configuration

To edit BoxTrapper settings, click "Manage" next to the account you wish to modify. The BoxTrapper Configuration interface will appear. Below we detail the various settings that can be adjusted & various sections of the boxtrapper management section.

Configuring BoxTrapper

To configure BoxTrapper settings, perform the following steps:

  1. Click "Configure Settings."
  2. Enter a comma-separated list of email addresses that forward mail to the account in the "Email addresses for this account" text box (these will be whitelisted by default)
  3. Enter your name in the "Your Name" text box.
  4. Enter the number of days for which you wish to keep logs and messages in the "The number of days that you wish to keep logs and messages in the queue" text box.
  5. Enter the desired minimum spam score in the "Minimum SpamAssassin Spam Score required to bypass BoxTrapper" text box.
  6. To enable or disable automatic whitelisting, select the appropriate checkbox. When you enable whitelisting, BoxTrapper whitelists any email address to which you send email.
  7. Select the "Automatically whitelist the To and From lines from whitelisted senders (whitelist by association)" checkbox to automatically whitelist addresses in the To and CC lines of incoming whitelisted emails.
  8. Click "Save."

SpamAssassin Spam Score

SpamAssassin works by analyzing incoming emails & applying a score to them. Emails with higher scores are more likely to be spam. Emails with negative scores are likely not spam.

Edit Confirmation Messages

BoxTrapper automatically responds to email with messages that the system builds from the following templates:

  • verify: BoxTrapper responds with this message when an address that does not exist on the whitelist or blacklist sends an email. This message requests a response to confirm that the sender is legitimate.
  • verifyreleased: BoxTrapper responds with this message when a person responds to the verify message with an email or a click on the verification link.
  • returnverify: BoxTrapper responds with this message when the verification process fails.
  • blacklist: BoxTrapper responds with this message when a blacklisted address sends an email.

Click "Edit" to customize the verification and blacklist message templates.

These templates use the following variables:

  • %email% — The sender's email address.
  • %fromname% — The recipient's name.
  • %subject% — The subject of the sender's email.
  • %acct% — The recipient's username.
  • %msgid% — The message ID of the sender's email.
  • %headers% — The heading information of the sender's email.
  • %if can_verify_web% and %endif% — These tags enclose a section that allows BoxTrapper to verify senders through a web link.

Warning

Do not alter "verify#%msgid%" in the subject line of the verify message template. BoxTrapper requires that specific code to function properly.

To restore the default message templates, click "Reset to Default."

Edit Whitelists, Blacklists, and Ignore Lists

To edit lists, follow these steps:

  1. Click "Edit White/Black/Ignore lists."
  2. Select the list that you want to modify.
  3. Enter any messages, subjects, or email addresses for which you wish to filter.
  4. Click "Save."

BoxTrapper lists:

  • Whitelist: The system delivers messages directly to your inbox.
  • Ignore list: The system deletes messages without a notification.
  • Blacklist: The system deletes messages, and the sender receives a reply that indicates that the system blocked the message.

Forward List

Click "Forward List" to update the account's forward list. Enter email addresses that you wish to add to the forward list, and click "Save." The system will automatically forward whitelisted emails to these addresses.

Review Log

The boxtrapper system organizes this log by day and displays any activity for an email address that uses BoxTrapper. Use this log, for example, to isolate problems with email delivery.

Review Queue

The review queue allows you to allow/disallow/delete messages caught in boxtrapper.

To deliver or delete emails, follow these steps:

  1. Select the checkbox for the desired day.
  2. Select "Delete" or "Whitelist and Deliver."
  3. Click "Submit."

To see the contents of a message, follow these steps:

  1. Click the email's sender, subject, or date to see the entire message, headers, and more delivery options. For example, you can ignore or blacklist a sender.
  2. Select the option for which you wish to filter.
  3. Click "Go." ```