Spam is a serious problem that has been increasingly plaguing users of the Internet. Programs known as spam filters are employed to assist the user in deciding if an email is worth reading or not. This paper focuses on comparing the spam filters known as SpamAssassin and Bogofilter on mailboxes from a variety of users, while providing a shorter look into the effectiveness of whitelists and blacklists as spam prevention tools. The performance of these filters was not consistent with neither filter being more effective at identifying spam than the other. Filtering spam is a difficult task and mainstream filters still have room for improvement to work for a variety of users.

• This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

Creator

• Chiarella, Joseph P.
• O'Brien, Jason Thomas

Publisher

• Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Identifier

• 03D084M

Advisor

• Wills, Craig E.
• Claypool, Mark L.

Year

• 2003

Date created

• 2003-01-01

Resource type

• Major Qualifying Project

Major

• Computer Science

Rights statement

• In Copyright