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Proofpoint, Inc.

Understanding Mail Flow with Proofpoint Essentials

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Situation Overview of Proofpoint Essentials email process flow. You want to know the mail flow to better understand the path each message follows, and what events may be triggered at specific points during the process.
Solution Email through the Essentials platform is processed step by step.

 

Proofpoint Essentials mail flow

Messages processed through Proofpoint Essentials go through various stages in a particular order which is outlined below for both inbound and outbound.

Inbound Mail Flow

  1. DNS/IP reputation checks
  2. Attachment Defense (if licensed).
  3. Anti-Virus scanning. **
  4. Anti-Spoofing scan (DMARC, DKIM, and SPF)
  5. Filters: Custom filters and send lists.

    Executables blocked by default:  .exe, .dll, .bat, .js, and others are blocked before custom filters.

    Any filter that triggers with Quarantine or Allow will skip the Anti-Spam step of processing.
    Please see this filter order processing KB for more information.

  6. Anti-Spam.
  7. URL Defense Scan and Rewrites (if licensed).

Note: URL Defense is not bypassed by Custom Filters. If there is an exception for a custom filter and customer is licensed with URL Defense, URL defense filters will still filter the content of those exempt emails. 

Outbound Mail Flow

  1. Attachment Defense (if licensed).
  2. Anti-Virus scanning. **
  3. Filters: Custom filters and send lists
    • See above for executables and filter processing
  4. Anti-Spam.

** VIRUS:  Any message blocked as 'Virus' cannot be released by Customers or Proofpoint.  Once detected as Virus, no further action can be taken on the message.  If you feel a messages was flagged in error, please provide a permalink to it in a support ticket for review.