Cerebrus Configuration

1. Network
2. ISP and Reserved IP Addresses
3. Modes
4. Attachments
5. SpamTrap
6. Content
7. Subject
8. From
9. Candidates
10. Header
11. Server
12. Virus

The configuration screen is reached using the Cerebrus Control Panel. Note that the Control Panel will only appear when the GUI flag is set to true, which is the default setting.

1. Network

Cerebrus Password: Used in the subject line to control Cerebrus via email messages
Email Address: Used to send complaints regarding spam
SMTP Server: Your Internet Service Provider’s email server used to send email
ListenPort: POP servers normally listen on Port 110. If you have another application that uses port 110, then you will have to select another port number, eg. 123, and set your email client to use this port number instead to communicate with Cerebrus.
ProxyHost: If you use a Proxy to connect to the internet, then put the name here
ProxyPort: The port number that is used by your Proxy Server.
ProxyType: You have a choice of none, Socks 5, Socks 4, Generic (Cern)

When you apply these settings, a file “network.txt” is created which details these settings. You can check these with your network administrator if you have a problem getting the Cerebrus autoupdates.

2. ISP and Reserved IP Addresses

ISPs: Add the domain for the various email addresses you have. For instance, if your email address is joe@yahoo.com, you would add yahoo.com. If you have other email addresses, you should add all their domains. If you click on an entry, you are given the option to remove it. If you choose to remove it, it is placed into the clipboard.
Reserved-IPaddresses: Cerebrus does DNS lookups on all the IP addresses it finds in the received lines of the email header. Add the IP addresses for your ISP’s mail servers to prevent Cerebrus from looking up these addresses which will only waste time, and also your own IP address if you have a static IP address eg. cable modem connection.

3. Modes

GUI: When selected, Cerebrus will bring up the Control Panel at startup, and a pop up notification window when mail arrives.
Log?: A detailed log of Cerebrus’ activities is made to the file “cerebrus.log”. Set this when you are trying to solve a problem, otherwise leave it set to off.
Invisible?: When true, no Control Panel, or popup appears on mail arrival. You will have to use the task manager to shut Cerebrus down, or use the “Quit” command from an email command message.
Strict: When true, Cerebrus will check the message-id of each email, and flag as bulk email any email that has a message-id generated by your ISP’s pop server, but does not originate from one of your listed domains. This will catch most bulk email when set to true.
ReportSpam: When true, and a spam arrives, an Abuse Report Window pops up, and helps you send a complaint to the appropriate authorities
ChangeSubject: When true, Cerebrus will annotate the Subject line with

[Spam?][...reason] original subject

If set off, then it will instead create a new header line “Cerebrus-filter:” and annotate that as well. Additionally, it will create a CC: cerebrus@localhost so that Outlook Express users can filter on this address to identify spam. ( As of this date, Outlook Express 6 can not filter on custom headers. )

RenameAttachments: When true, named attachments will be renamed to help prevent activating viruses.
Send Statistics: When true, after each email collection, your statistics of good and spam email will be posted to http://www.compkarori.com. No personal information is collected. You can see statistics for all participating users at http://compkarori.com/cgi-local/statistics.r, and for a specific IP address with http://compkarori.com/cgi-local/statistics.r?ip=123.4.56.789.

If you maintain a static IP address, then http://compkarori.com/cgi-local/statistics.r?ip=mine will show you the statistics for the IP address the request comes from.

4. Attachments

Attachments: Any attachments with the listed endings will be renamed to help prevent viruses from causing damage to your system. Eg. an attachment called “innocent.com” will be renamed to “innocent.com.scan-me-for-viruses.scan-me-for-viruses”

5. SpamTrap

SpamTrap Addresses: If you have an email address that only receives spam, then add them here. Any email server that sends an email to these addresses will be added to your banned server list.

6. Content

Banned Content Strings: Any email containing these strings in the message body will be flagged as spam. This includes spam that has been disguised by html comments, base64 encoding, and html tags.

7. Subject

Allow Subject: Use these strings to allow mail through eg. mailing list email
Ban Subject: Any email with these strings will be banned. Be sure to include your email less the domain eg. joebloggs for joebloggs@wherever.com as spam often contains this part of the email address.

8. From

Allow From: Add domains and email addresses for your regular contacts. It is more important to add domains from companies that you have regular contact with than individuals. Email from these companies and individuals will not be checked for spam.
Ban From: Add domains and email addresses from companies and domains that you do not wish to receive email from.

9. Candidates

Whitelist Candidates: Every email address that is not in your allowed list, and not assessed as spam, is added to this list. If you remove an address, it will be placed into the “ban” text field so that you can add it to the banned from list instead.

10. Header

Banned Header Strings: Strings that are added here are used in scanning the email header. If found, then these email are marked as spam.

11. Server

Spam Server IP Addresses: Cerebrus will automatically add IP addresses with the date they were added when it returns a positive from SpamCop, or when an email is received by a spamtrap address.

12. Virus

Virus Strings: These strings are used to identify common viruses. The name of the virus goes in the left text area, and the virus string in the right.