Hi,

When users request for their password to be sent to their email address an email is sent, but it always goes into the junk folder and is classed as dangerous, how can I stop this and make the emails sent by my site secure?

Thanks,

You would want to add more headers to the initial email. If you using cPanel there is also a way to add some extra security (to confim the email was from the server it says it's from).

I recommend looking into PHP sending stuff via POP3/IMAP.

Spam/Junk filters determine whether or not an eMail is classified as spam based primarily on content. What does the eMail look like? Does it contain a lot of markup, or is is just plain text? Does it mention "automated response" or "Viagra"?

Also, I would recommend sending the mail through your mail server (instead of just using mail() / sendmail) Your mail server should have a non-generic-looking RDNS entry which will help with big providers.

There are lots of other things to help ensure your mail is delivered, especially to companies that use whitelists, but the content of the message is the first thing to look at is the content. If you could post an example complete with headers it may help.

As for added security (beyond simply getting the mail through) I would suggest an RSA signature.

The mail script I am using is an ASP script, what other headers can I include? How would I include webserver details?

PHP Code:

<%
Dim Mail
    Set Mail = CreateObject("CDONTS.NewMail")
    Mail.From = "hotlista.co.uk"  '
    Mail.To = rs("email")
    Mail.Subject = "Confirm your email address"
    
buf = "Dear " & rs("userid") & vbCrLf
buf = buf & " " & vbCrLf  
buf = buf & "Please click on the link below to confirm your email address." & vbCrLf
buf = buf & " " & vbCrLf
buf = buf & " " & vbCrLf
buf = buf & "Once you have confirmed your email address, you can start using Hotlista!" & vbCrLf
buf = buf & "Please click the following link: <a href='http://www.hotlista.co.uk/activate_account.php?userid=" & rs(email text>activate account</a>"      & vbCrLf
buf = buf & "The Administrator" & vbCrLf
Mail.Body = buf%>
<%
Mail.Send
rs.Close
Pears.Close
set Pears = Nothing
Set Mail = Nothing
response.redirect ("confirmation_email.php")

%> 


Try stripping the HTML (most mail readers automatically parse URL's), strip the exclamation mark(s), and most importantly:

Mail.From = "hotlista.co.uk"

That doesn't appear to be a valid eMail address which could definitely trigger a mail filter.

I removed the <a href> and it formatted the link ok in the email The email is still sent to the junk mail folder, if I included my hosts webmail server information would this make the email more secure and not sent to the junk folder?

I can get the details of the webserver to use, but where do I specify them in the email script?

Also, where does POP3 come into sending emails like this?

Thanks,

I'm not an ASP coder, you may want to open a new thread in a different forum. The big thing I see is that the mail.from should be a real email address -- your code looks like it is setting the From header to just a domain.

If you were doing this in PHP, I would recommend http://phpmailer.codeworxtech.com/