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Nuno
Asked: 2020-04-22 04:06:24 +0800 CST

Email/IP Reputation between private email servers

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I have a private self-hosted email server.

I'm aware that if I send emails to Hotmail/Yahoo/Gmail addresses, and the users Open the emails and Reply to the emails, my Domain & IP Reputation will increase (for that particular ISP), as their user is engaging with my emails.

However, if the addresses I send emails to are on domains ".gov" and ".mil", which I believe have self-hosted email servers too (not Hotmail/Gmail), does the Opening and Replying to email actions increase anything in my Domain & IP Reputation?

I had someone telling me:

1) We send emails to .GOV/.MIL address FROM our own IP.
2) They receive + Open + Respond to the Email
3) Our IP and email reputation goes up, at least from 2 factors:
- Open Email
- Respond Email (stronger)

I just want to confirm whether this is true or not.

To clarify, my emails are configured properly (SPF/DKIM/etc). I'm not having problems sending emails to .mil/.gov. My question is whether actions done by the recipients (.gov/.mil / any self-hosted recipient) affect anything in relation to my overall IP/Domain reputation.

email email-server

1 Answers

  1. AFAIK opening email and responding to it are NOT typical factors collected and used for domain nor IP address reputation on private mail systems at all. The real methods include:

    • Blocking the most clear spam altogether e.g.
      • mail from nonexistent domains
      • IP addresses that aren't supposed to send email (e.g. dialup networks)
      • messages failing SPF, DKIM and DMARC checks
      • senders on DNS-based Blackhole List (DNSBL)
    • Content based filtering
      • Static rulesets
      • Bayesian filtering (self-learning)

    Moving messages to and from the junk folder is a clear hint for a mail system to consider the message as spam or false positive. Opening a message is not so relevant.

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