How to submit spam, and false-positive spam samples to SophosLabs

This article describes how to email spam, and false-positive spam samples to SophosLabs.

For information regarding the submission of files that you believe may have malicious content, refer to the knowledgebase article 11490: Submitting samples of suspicious files to Sophos

How to email spam, and false-positive spam samples to SophosLabs

Only samples sent as RFC-2822 attachments can be processed, samples in any other format will be rejected.

Email spam samples to :

• is-spam@labs.sophos.com

Email false-positive spam samples to :

• not-spam@labs.sophos.com

What to do

From Microsoft Outlook

1. Create a new email message
2. Address it to : is-spam@labs.sophos.com or : not-spam@labs.sophos.com
3. Drag and drop the selected item(s) into the new email.
4. Send the email

From Mozilla Thunderbird

1. Select the sample
2. From the toolbar choose Message > Forward > Attachment
3. Address it to : is-spam@labs.sophos.com or : not-spam@labs.sophos.com
4. Send the email

From Lotus Notes

Sophos cannot recommend a default method for attaching RFC-2822 messages, but the following options are available:

• Send the message direct to your Sophos support contact:
  • create a new email message addressed to your support contact
  • open the spam message, select View > Show > Page Source
  • copy and paste the Page Source content into the new email
• Use the free third party enhancement software, 'Open-NTF'. This adds a menu option, 'Forward MIME to RFC-2822', to the Tools button. Use this to forward the email.

From other email clients

With other email client use the option 'Forward As Attachment'. You should discuss this with Sophos support before sending in a sample in this way.

Further information

• Spam samples sent to is-spam@labs.sophos.com as RFC-2822 attachments will be automatically processed by systems within SophosLabs.
• Samples sent in any other format will not be processed.
• You will not receive feedback for emails sent to is-spam@labs.sophos.com
• Samples sent to is-spam@labs.sophos.com will not necessarily be considered to be, or detected as, spam.

If you believe that an item should be detected, raise the matter with Sophos technical support.

If you wish to submit spam samples to support, attach the entire message source.