What has happened to spam filtering?

Question

OK, I'll probably get the same answers as many previous posters but I'm hoping there will be a good positive reply somewhere, possibly from Microsoft themselves, about what they're doing to improve spam filtering.

I've had Hotmail account since the mid-90's, so changing my email address isn't really an option. I always (and I mean always) report spam that gets into my inbox by using the 'Report' button. However, almost immediately this is followed by several practically identical messages that still get through (I know they won't be identical in the raw message format or headers, but still.. They are obviously junk).

Now I know bad actors are always changing tactics. But the emails getting through are basic, I mean clearly and utterly obviously junk (random characters in subject, .eml attachments, 'windings' in the subject and message body etc). Not to mention random, bizarre domains and email prefixes.

Yet I still get legit email being classed as junk. Bizarrely, it's usually the emails with dodgy attachments that get through.

There are several articles that describe how to change spam filtering levels, but these don't seem valid in the current Outlook.com web app (or the Outlook Mac app).

So I guess the question is, does anyone have any suggestions to sort this? Getting 100 junk messages every day into my inbox, I'm reporting them all, but then nothing changes is disheartening to say the least. If I have to pay for a solution then I'll consider it...

Thanks

Answer 1

Hello Andyclu! I'm Gunasekar and I'd be happy to help you with your question.

Microsoft has implemented several measures to prevent spam emails from reaching your inbox, including AI-based filters. However, some spam emails may still slip through the cracks.

There could be various reasons why you keep receiving spam messages from different sources. One of the common reasons is that spammers often buy email lists from hackers on the dark web who have hacked into various websites on the internet. It is possible that you may have subscribed to one of these websites unknowingly.

If you are continuously receiving spam e-mails even after blocking them, it is evident that your account might be compromised or some third-party websites have your information. In this case, you will need to protect your account.

"In this article http://answers.microsoft.com/thread/6da9281e-af11-4eeb-9d40-ddb6dedbc37b Daniel Nainggolan explains the issue more in detail."

You could follow the Microsoft Self-help articles to resolve the issue.

Block SPAM Emails.

1. Filter junk email and spam in Outlook: (Related article for your reference)

https://support.microsoft.com/help/db786e79-54e2-40cc-904f-d89d57b7f41d

2. Block senders or mark email as junk in Outlook.com

https://support.microsoft.com/help/a3ece97b-82f8-4a5e-9ac3-e92fa6427ae4

3. Create an inbox rule -

https://support.microsoft.com/help/4b094371-a5d7-49bd-8b1b-4e4896a7cc5d

In addition to this, these tips can help keep your Microsoft account safe, make it easier to recover if it's compromised, and strengthen it against attacks.

https://support.microsoft.com/help/628538c2-7006-33bb-5ef4-c917657362b9

• Change your Microsoft account Password.'
• Enable Two-factor authentication.

I hope this information helps. If you have any questions, please let me know and I will be happy to help you further.

Best regards,

Gunasekar N

Answer 2

I think you may have misunderstood.

I've had my email address for 30 years, and I subscribe to 'Have I been pwned', so I know my email address is in various lists. I'd be surprised if anyones active email address isn't on the lists TBH. There have been that many data breaches over the years (Facebook, British Airways.. Plus many more). So we know HOW the spammers got our email address, and I take all the precautions I can with MFA, reporting all spam, never open attachments etc.

Knowing this, and enabling MFA is not the issue here and it does nothing to stop the spam getting through the Microsoft filters.

The links you posted are all aimed at basic, passive, actions we can take after an email has arrived. We can't ever stop spam by blocking email addresses, it's not feasible. The spammers use randomly generated email addresses every time, en-masse, with each 'spamming campaign'. Blocking a single email address will do nothing. Besides, the email domains being used are highly likely to be spoofed anyway. Similarly, using 'key word' rules in outlook is a hammer to crack a nut.

If MS are using AI to classify email, then I don't understand how an email, with a clearly randomly generated gibberish address, and a 100% image based message body AND a dodgy file attachment, could get past an AI classification. This suggests either the AI isn't trained and validated or it's not actually enabled.

A relatively simple classification & natural language processing Machine Learning job should be able to predict that emails following these types of rules are very likely to be junk. This, when used in combination with the random subject containing non-standard characters, odd email attachments, or the entire message body being an image, should all add up to a score classifying it as highly probable junk..

All I'm asking for is to find out what MS are doing about the poor performance of the spam filters.

Answer 3

I am utterly baffled by the number of people who respond to legitimate questions such a yours, without ever apparently reading past your opening statement. Anyway, I don't have an answer for you per se, but I can add an observation.

Like yours, my outlook address is quite old. About 20 years. Two years ago I suddenly began getting slammed with spam. I then began using Report Junk and Report Phishing (with Phishing being a very important distinction) very carefully and persistently, and although it initially took about a month, I eventually began seeing improvements until it was almost nil. There have been a couple times in the past 2 years where it seemed MS had dropped the ball, but then all would get well again and my inbox would remain clean.

Then, about 2 weeks ago, I started getting slammed again and it was quite noticeable that every Subject heading began with a dash (such as -Paramount Account Suspended). I hoped I could just be persistent and this would turn around, but as of today something is very different. Outlook for Mac no longer has Repot Phishing as an option, and only Report Junk is available. This is important for a couple of reasons. First, because Report Junk moves the message to the Junk Folder, whereas Report Phishing always deleted the message, entirely. I've also hoped that MS was looking at phishing with more concern than they have junk, but now it appears they do not. I personally don't see where the problem is receding in importance.

Answer 4

Automated Idiocy, to quote your signature and i'm pretty sure by now that is the cause. I have the exact same issue and many do. There are even complete articles on the issue. It's getting so bad i have to fish my genuine mail from the junk box and all junk that is flagged as important will be in my inbox. And it is obviously junk. I am currently suspecting, because of the very limited response from Microsoft that their AI got spammed and the thing that is checking the incoming mail is what is broken. Please reinstall the old spamfilters with manual tags, because they are so obvious that it's pretty easy to do for a human. Anything which combines a known company or any sexual condition i might want to get fixed, combined with the word 'now' is spam. And it's hitting my inbox by default. While all email from legitimate companies ends up in spam. Today it occured to me that the thing Bing AI had as a problem, that ppl change the outcome by giving it bad input, might be what is behind this too. Cause the spambot Microsoft is running clearly works backwards. And my email is save, i change passwords constantly and have 2 step verification and all attemps to hack fail.

Hope this gets fixed soon, because i'm inclined to move entirely to gmail soon.

That hassel becomes less of a hassel considering the daily hassel to clear my inbox.

Answer 5

Hello Andyclu! I'm Gunasekar and I'd be happy to help you with your question. Microsoft has implemented several measures to prevent spam emails from reaching your inbox, including AI-based filters. However, some spam emails may still slip through the cracks. There could be various reasons why you keep receiving spam messages from different sources. One of the common reasons is that spammers often buy email lists from hackers on the dark web who have hacked into various websites on the internet. It is possible that you may have subscribed to one of these websites unknowingly. If you are continuously receiving spam e-mails even after blocking them, it is evident that your account might be compromised or some third-party websites have your information. In this case, you will need to protect your account. "In this article http://answers.microsoft.com/thread/6da9281e-af11-4eeb-9d40-ddb6dedbc37b Daniel Nainggolan explains the issue more in detail." You could follow the Microsoft Self-help articles to resolve the issue. Block SPAM Emails. 1. Filter junk email and spam in Outlook: (Related article for your reference) https://support.microsoft.com/help/db786e79-54e2-40cc-904f-d89d57b7f41d 2. Block senders or mark email as junk in Outlook.com https://support.microsoft.com/help/a3ece97b-82f8-4a5e-9ac3-e92fa6427ae4 3. Create an inbox rule - https://support.microsoft.com/help/4b094371-a5d7-49bd-8b1b-4e4896a7cc5d In addition to this, these tips can help keep your Microsoft account safe, make it easier to recover if it's compromised, and strengthen it against attacks. https://support.microsoft.com/help/628538c2-7006-33bb-5ef4-c917657362b9 - Change your Microsoft account Password.' - Enable Two-factor authentication. I hope this information helps. If you have any questions, please let me know and I will be happy to help you further. Best regards, Gunasekar N

My guy. I have had my email set to the old way of exclusive filtering. Meaning unless I have the email address on a list it is not supposed to get through to my inbox. N I have had it set this way since 1996. Suddenly in the last couple of months everything is getting through and there is no email address listed to block.

What changed? Nothing on my end changed. Filters have been the same for 18 years.