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Anti-spam protection in EOP

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Note

This topic is intended for admins. For end-user topics, see Overview of the Junk Email Filter and Learn about junk email and phishing.

In Microsoft 365 organizations with mailboxes in Exchange Online or standalone Exchange Online Protection (EOP) organizations without Exchange Online mailboxes, email messages are automatically protected against spam (junk email) by EOP.

To help reduce junk email, EOP includes junk email protection that uses proprietary spam filtering (also known as content filtering) technologies to identify and separate junk email from legitimate email. EOP spam filtering learns from known spam and phishing threats and user feedback from our consumer platform, Outlook.com. Ongoing feedback from admins and users helps ensure that the EOP technologies are continually trained and improved.

EOP uses the following spam filtering verdicts to classify messages:

  • Spam: The message received a spam-confidence level (SCL) of 5 or 6.
  • High confidence spam: The message received an SCL of 7, 8, or 9.
  • Phishing
  • High confidence phishing: As part of secure by default, messages that are identified as high confidence phishing are always quarantined, and users can't release their own quarantined high confidence phishing messages, regardless of any available settings that admins configure.
  • Bulk: The message source met or exceeded the configured bulk complaint level (BCL) threshold.

For more information about anti-spam protection, see the Anti-spam protection FAQ

In the default anti-spam policy and in custom anti-spam policies, you can configure the actions to take based on these verdicts. In the Standard and Strict preset security policies, the actions are already configured and unmodifiable as described in EOP anti-spam policy settings.

To configure the default anti-spam policy, and to create, modify, and remove custom anti-spam policies, see Configure anti-spam policies in Microsoft 365.

Tip

If you disagree with the spam filtering verdict, you can report the message to Microsoft as a false positive (good mail marked as bad) or a false negative (bad email allowed). For more information, see:

The anti-spam message headers can tell you why a message was marked as spam, or why it skipped spam filtering. For more information, see Anti-spam message headers.

You can't completely turn off spam filtering in Microsoft 365, but you can use Exchange mail flow rules (also known as transport rules) to bypass most spam filtering on incoming messages (for example, if you route email through a third-party protection service or device before delivery to Microsoft 365). For more information, see Use mail flow rules to set the spam confidence level (SCL) in messages.

In hybrid environments where EOP protects on-premises Exchange mailboxes, you need to configure two mail flow rules (also known as transport rules) in your on-premises Exchange organization to recognize the EOP spam headers that are added to messages. For details, see Configure EOP to deliver spam to the Junk Email folder in hybrid environments.

Anti-spam policies

Anti-spam policies control the configurable settings for spam filtering. The important settings in anti-spam policies are described in the following subsections.

Tip

To see the anti-spam policy settings in the default policy, the Standard preset security policy, and the Strict preset security policy, see EOP anti-spam policy settings.

Recipient filters in anti-spam policies

Recipient filters use conditions and exceptions to identify the internal recipients that the policy applies to. At least one condition is required in custom policies. Conditions and exceptions aren't available in the default policy (the default policy applies to all recipients). You can use the following recipient filters for conditions and exceptions:

  • Users: One or more mailboxes, mail users, or mail contacts in the organization.
  • Groups:
    • Members of the specified distribution groups or mail-enabled security groups (dynamic distribution groups aren't supported).
    • The specified Microsoft 365 Groups.
  • Domains: One or more of the configured accepted domains in Microsoft 365. The recipient's primary email address is in the specified domain.

You can use a condition or exception only once, but the condition or exception can contain multiple values:

  • Multiple values of the same condition or exception use OR logic (for example, <recipient1> or <recipient2>):

    • Conditions: If the recipient matches any of the specified values, the policy is applied to them.
    • Exceptions: If the recipient matches any of the specified values, the policy isn't applied to them.

  • Different types of exceptions use OR logic (for example, <recipient1> or <member of group1> or <member of domain1>). If the recipient matches any of the specified exception values, the policy isn't applied to them.

  • Different types of conditions use AND logic. The recipient must match all of the specified conditions for the policy to apply to them. For example, you configure a condition with the following values:

    • Users: romain@contoso.com
    • Groups: Executives

    The policy is applied to romain@contoso.com only if he's also a member of the Executives group. Otherwise, the policy isn't applied to him.

Bulk complaint threshold (BCL) in anti-spam policies

EOP assigns a bulk complaint level (BCL) value to inbound messages from bulk senders. Messages from bulk senders are also known as bulk mail or gray mail.

For more information about BCL, see Bulk complaint level (BCL) in EOP.

Tip

By default, the PowerShell only setting MarkAsSpamBulkMail is On in anti-spam policies in Exchange Online PowerShell. This setting dramatically affects the results of a Bulk compliant level (BCL) met or exceeded filtering verdict:

  • MarkAsSpamBulkMail is On: A BCL that's greater than or equal to the threshold value is converted to an SCL 6 that corresponds to a filtering verdict of Spam, and the action for the Bulk compliant level (BCL) met or exceeded filtering verdict is taken on the message.
  • MarkAsSpamBulkMail is Off: The message is stamped with the BCL, but no action is taken for a Bulk compliant level (BCL) met or exceeded filtering verdict. In effect, the BCL threshold and Bulk compliant level (BCL) met or exceeded filtering verdict action are irrelevant.

Spam properties in anti-spam policies

The Test mode settings, the Increase spam score settings, and most of the Mark as spam settings are part of Advanced Spam Filtering (ASF) in anti-spam policies.

These settings aren't configured in the default anti-spam policy by default, or in the Standard or Strict preset security policies.

For complete information about ASF settings, see Advanced Spam Filter (ASF) settings in EOP.

The other settings that are available in this category are:

  • Contains specific languages: Messages in the specified languages are automatically identified as spam.
  • From these countries: Messages from the specified countries are automatically identified as spam.

These settings aren't configured in the default anti-spam policy by default, or in the Standard or Strict preset security policies.

Actions in anti-spam policies

  • In custom anti-spam policies and the default anti-spam policy, the available actions for spam filtering verdicts are described in the following table.

    • A check mark ( ✔ ) indicates the action is available (not all actions are available for all verdicts).
    • An asterisk ( * ) after the check mark indicates the default action for the spam filtering verdict.
    Action Spam High
    confidence
    spam    		 Phishing High
    confidence
    phishing    		 Bulk
    Move message to Junk Email folder: The message is delivered to the Junk Email folder in the mailbox.¹ ✔* ✔* ✔ ² ✔*
    Add X-header: Adds an X-header to the message header and delivers the message to the mailbox.

    You enter the X-header field name (not the value) in the available Add this X-header text box.

    For Spam and High confidence spam verdicts, the message is moved to the Junk Email folder.¹ ³    		 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
    Prepend subject line with text: Adds text to the beginning of the message's subject line. The message is delivered to the mailbox and moved to the Junk email folder.¹ ³

    You enter the text in the available Prefix subject line with this text box.    		 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
    Redirect message to email address: Sends the message to other recipients instead of the intended recipients.

    You specify the recipients in the Redirect to this email address box.    		 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
    Delete message: Silently deletes the entire message, including all attachments. ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
    Quarantine message: Sends the message to quarantine instead of the intended recipients.

    You select or use the default quarantine policy for the spam filtering verdict in the Select quarantine policy box that appears.⁴ Quarantine policies define what users are able to do to quarantined messages, and whether users receive quarantine notifications. For more information, see Anatomy of a quarantine policy.

    You specify how long the messages are held in quarantine in the available Retain spam in quarantine for this many days box.    		 ✔ ✔ ✔* ✔* ⁵ ✔
    No action ✔

    ¹ EOP uses its own mail flow delivery agent to route messages to the Junk Email folder instead of using the junk email rule in the mailbox. The Enabled parameter on the Set-MailboxJunkEmailConfiguration cmdlet in Exchange Online PowerShell has no effect on mail flow in cloud mailboxes. For more information, see Configure junk email settings on Exchange Online mailboxes.

    ² For High confidence phishing, the Move message to Junk Email folder action is effectively deprecated. Although you might be able to select the Move message to Junk Email folder action, high confidence phishing messages are always quarantined (equivalent to selecting Quarantine message).

    ³ You can this use value as a condition in mail flow rules to filter or route the message.

    ⁴ If the spam filtering verdict quarantines messages by default (Quarantine message is already selected when you get to the page), the default quarantine policy name is shown in the Select quarantine policy box. If you change the action of a spam filtering verdict to Quarantine message, the Select quarantine policy box is blank by default. A blank value means the default quarantine policy for that verdict is used. When you later view or edit the anti-spam policy settings, the quarantine policy name is shown. For more information about the quarantine policies that are used by default for spam filter verdicts, see EOP anti-spam policy settings.

    ⁵ Users can't release their own messages that were quarantined as high confidence phishing, regardless of how the quarantine policy is configured. If the policy allows users to release their own quarantined messages, users are instead allowed to request the release of their quarantined high confidence phishing messages.

  • Intra-Organizational messages to take action on: Controls whether spam filtering and the corresponding verdict actions are applied to internal messages (messages sent between users within the organization). The action that's configured in the policy for the specified spam filter verdicts is taken on messages sent between internal users. The available values are:

    • Default: This is the default value. This value is the same as selecting High confidence phishing messages.
    • None
    • High confidence phishing messages
    • Phishing and high confidence phishing messages
    • All phishing and high confidence spam messages
    • All phishing and spam messages

    For the default values that are used in the default anti-spam policy and in the Standard and Strict preset security policies, see the Intra-Organizational messages to take action on entry in EOP anti-spam policy settings.

  • Retain spam in quarantine for this many days: Specifies how long to keep the message in quarantine if you selected Quarantine message as the action for a spam filtering verdict. After the time period expires, the message is deleted, and isn't recoverable. A valid value is from 1 to 30 days.

    For the default values that are used in the default anti-spam policy and in the Standard and Strict preset security policies, see the Retain spam in quarantine for this many days entry in EOP anti-spam policy settings.

    Tip

    This setting also controls how long messages that were quarantined by anti-phishing policies are retained. For more information, see Quarantine retention.

Zero-hour auto purge (ZAP) in anti-spam policies

ZAP for phishing and ZAP for spam is able to act on messages after they're delivered to Exchange Online mailboxes. By default, ZAP for phishing and ZAP for spam are turned on, and we recommend that you leave them on. For more information, see:

Quarantine policies in anti-spam policies

If the verdict in the anti-spam policy is configured to quarantines messages, quarantine policies define what users are able to do to those quarantined messages, and whether users receive quarantine notifications. For more information, see Anatomy of a quarantine policy.

Allow and block lists in anti-spam policies

Anti-spam policies contain the following lists to allow or block specific senders or domains:

  • The allowed senders list
  • The allowed domains list
  • The blocked senders list
  • The blocked domains list

These settings aren't configured in the default anti-spam policy by default, or in the Standard or Strict preset security policies.

The functionality of these lists has been largely replaced by:

  • Block entries for domains and email addresses in the Create block entries for domains and email addresses.

    The main reason to use the blocked senders list or the blocked domains list in anti-spam policies: block entries in the Tenant Allow/Block List also prevent users in the organization from sending email to those email addresses or domains.

  • Reporting good email to Microsoft from the Submissions page in the Microsoft Defender portal (where you can elect to Allow emails with similar attributes, which creates the required temporary entries in the Tenant Allow/Block List).

    Important

    Messages from entries in the allowed senders list or the allowed domains list bypass most email protection (except malware and high confidence phishing) and email authentication checks (SPF, DKIM and DMARC). Entries in the allowed senders list or the allowed domains list create a high risk of attackers successfully delivering email to the Inbox that would otherwise be filtered. These lists are best used for temporary testing only.

    Never add common domains (for example, microsoft.com or office.com) to the allowed domains list. Attackers can easily send spoofed messages from these common domains into your organization.

    As of September 2022, if an allowed sender, domain, or subdomain is in an accepted domain in your organization, that sender, domain, or subdomain must pass email authentication checks in order to skip spam filtering.

    If you're going to keep an allowed domain entry in the list for an extended period of time, tell the sender to verify that their SPF record is up to date with email sources for their domain, and that the policy in their DMARC record is set to p=reject.

Priority of anti-spam policies

If they're turned on, the Standard and Strict preset security policies are applied before any custom anti-spam policies or the default policy (Strict is always first). If you create multiple custom anti-spam policies, you can specify the order that they're applied. Policy processing stops after the first policy is applied (the highest priority policy for that recipient).

For more information about the order of precedence and how multiple policies are evaluated, see Order and precedence of email protection and Order of precedence for preset security policies and other policies.

Default anti-spam policy

Every organization has a built-in anti-spam policy named Default that has the following properties:

  • The policy is the default policy (the IsDefault property has the value True), and you can't delete the default policy.
  • The policy is automatically applied to all recipients in the organization, and you can't turn it off.
  • The policy is always applied last (the Priority value is Lowest and you can't change it).