How to stop the spammers

[russmichaels]

We have most of our mail queues set to require registration, which we thought would stop all the spam getting through.
Unfortunately this does not seem to be working. Support Suite is still accepting spams and is automatically creating user accounts for the FROM address, even though the email came in on a mail queue that requires registration. As a result we now have over 1000 users in support suite, most of whom are not valid.

How can we resolve this and make support suite honour the rule to require registration and stop letting the spam through.

[supportskins]

You can use parser rules to counter SPAM - Admin CP > Mail Parser > Insert New Rule

[russmichaels]

that may be, but the "require registration" rule that I already have should already be stopping it. Why is this not working as it should?
And using parser rules will be a huge task, adding endless rules to block the spam that gets through. I would much rather get the existing method working properly.

[Joost Sanders]

Are you sure that these tickets are coming in via email and not via the client interface?
The registration-required on the email parser only works for incoming mail (and works ok for our helpdesk), but if you have blocked ticket submission for not-logged in users (guests) the spam will come in from your client interface.

[russmichaels]

yes because when you register via the web site you must complete all required fields, otherwise it doesn't let you register. When users are created via incoming emails, this information is left blank.

[russmichaels]

anyone else got any suggestions, this is becoming a major problem as every spam that gets into the system creates a new user. These emails should simply not be getting into the system according to the rules we have set. Of course because the ticketing system lets these emails in, it also replies to them, which results in a bounce back, which results in another ticket/user.

[josan]

Originally Posted by russmichaels

anyone else got any suggestions, this is becoming a major problem as every spam that gets into the system creates a new user. These emails should simply not be getting into the system according to the rules we have set. Of course because the ticketing system lets these emails in, it also replies to them, which results in a bounce back, which results in another ticket/user.

Perhaps using a good spam filter solution? Our company started using Postini (Google) antispam a few weeks ago and the spam reduced dramatically to at most 1 or 2 messages a day (which was 1000+ a day). It is an online service, only thing you have to do is create an account an let your company email run past this server.

[russmichaels]

Our own anti-spam is working pretty well I think, I it mainly just those meds spams that get through as they contain only images and no text to be spam filtered, and we get quite a lot of those.

[Joost Sanders]

Originally Posted by russmichaels

Our own anti-spam is working pretty well I think, I it mainly just those meds spams that get through as they contain only images and no text to be spam filtered, and we get quite a lot of those.

If spam gets through it is not working pretty well :-)

Postini also stops these, and the great benefit is that you never have to worry about updating spam rules, blacklists, etc ever again.

But, it was just a suggestion. You should tackle spam where it should be done, and not within an application.

[russmichaels]

I think you have fixated on the spam, so perhaps I should not have used that for the subject. So forget the spam for a moment.
The issue is that Support Suite is not functioning as it should. It should not be possible for anyone to submit a ticket via email, it should send them back an auto reply stating they must register and submit tickets via the web site. In my own tests this is what happens, but clearly it doesn't work all the time as tickets are being accepted from non registered users.

[Joost Sanders]

Ok, then I think you should best submit a support ticket to Kayako. If it does not work the way it should, they will probably fix it.