Combining multiple email filters based on multivariate statistical analysis

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate how to combine multiple e-mail filters based on multivariate statistical analysis for providing a barrier to spam, which is stronger than a single filter alone. Three evaluation criteria are suggested for cost-sensitive filters, and their rationality is discussed. Furthermore, a principle that minimizes the error cost is described to avoid filtering an e-mail of "Legitimate" into "Spam". Comparing with other major methods, the experimental results show that our method of combining multiple filters has preferable performance when appropriate running parameters are adopted. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006.