OpenEFA Installer - Official Release

Posted on October 11, 2025 | By Scott Barbour

Release v1.0.0 Installation

🎉 Now Available!

The OpenEFA installer is officially released and ready for production use. Deploy AI-powered email security in minutes with a single command.


curl -sSL http://install.openefa.com/install.sh | sudo bash

After months of development and testing, we're excited to announce the official release of the OpenEFA installer. You can now deploy enterprise-grade email security with a single command!

What is OpenEFA?

OpenEFA is an AI-powered email security system built as the modern successor to the discontinued EFA Project. It combines advanced machine learning with traditional email filtering to provide superior protection against:

  • 🛡️ Spam and Phishing - 95%+ accuracy
  • 💼 Business Email Compromise - BEC detection
  • 📄 PDF Phishing (TOAD) - Document analysis
  • 🔐 Authentication - SPF/DKIM/DMARC
  • 🤖 Account Compromise - Behavioral detection
  • 📧 Smart Learning - Reduces false positives

Installation in 10 Minutes

The installer handles everything automatically:

✅ System Packages

Postfix, MariaDB, Redis, Python 3.12

✅ OpenSpacy AI Modules

15+ security modules

✅ SpacyWeb Dashboard

Multi-tenant management

✅ APIs & Services

All systemd services configured

Interactive prompts guide you through domain configuration, admin account setup, relay server selection, and security tier choice.

System Requirements

Component Minimum Recommended
OS Ubuntu 24.04 LTS or 22.04 LTS
CPU 2 cores 4 cores
RAM 2 GB 4-8 GB
Disk 20 GB 50 GB

Two Security Tiers

Tier 1 - Core (Minimal Resources)

Essential email security:

  • SPF/DKIM/DMARC authentication
  • Sender/domain/country blocking
  • Basic spam scoring
  • RBL integration (Spamhaus, SORBS, SpamCop)
Tier 2 - Standard (Recommended)

Everything in Tier 1, plus:

  • BEC detection with typosquatting analysis
  • DNS reputation scoring
  • Obfuscation detector
  • Marketing spam filter
  • PDF analyzer (TOAD detection)
  • URL reputation (homograph attacks)
  • Behavioral baseline analysis

⚠️ CRITICAL: MailGuard/EFA Integration

If you have an existing MailGuard or EFA server downstream, you must deploy SpamAssassin rules to make it trust OpenEFA's analysis.

Without this integration:

  • ❌ MailGuard ignores OpenEFA's AI analysis
  • ❌ Authentication checks run twice and fail
  • ❌ Legitimate emails incorrectly blocked

Quick setup (3 minutes):

cd /opt/spacyserver/installer/templates/spamassassin
scp *.cf root@YOUR_EFA_SERVER_IP:/etc/mail/spamassassin/
ssh root@YOUR_EFA_SERVER_IP "spamassassin --lint && systemctl restart mailscanner"

Full integration guide included in installation.

Architecture

Internet → OpenEFA (AI Filtering) → Your Mail Server → Mailboxes

(Authentication)       (Delivery)

OpenEFA sits in front of your existing infrastructure:

  • Standalone - Direct to mailbox server
  • Relay Mode - Front-end to EFA/Exchange/Zimbra
  • Multi-Domain - Single installation protecting multiple domains

Key Features

AI & Machine Learning

  • Conversation learning system (3,730+ patterns)
  • Thread awareness for legitimate replies
  • Adaptive scoring based on sender history
  • Named Entity Recognition (NER) for compliance

Multi-Tenancy

  • Domain-scoped access control
  • Per-domain whitelist/blocklist management
  • Client-specific blocking rules
  • Audit logging per domain

Integration APIs

  • Port 5001 - Release tracking (auto-whitelist after 3 releases)
  • Port 5002 - "Always Allow" button integration
  • Port 5003 - "Always Block" button integration

Non-Interactive Installation

Perfect for automation and configuration management:

export OPENEFA_DOMAIN="example.com"
export OPENEFA_ADMIN_EMAIL="admin@example.com"
export OPENEFA_ADMIN_PASSWORD="SecurePassword123"
export OPENEFA_RELAY_IP="192.168.1.100"

curl -sSL http://install.openefa.com/install.sh | sudo -E bash

Documentation

Comprehensive guides included:

  • Installation Guide - README.md in repository
  • EFA Integration - SpamAssassin rule deployment guide
  • Quick Checklist - Step-by-step deployment verification
  • Troubleshooting - Common issues and solutions
  • API Reference - Integration endpoint documentation

Roadmap

v1.0.0 (Current Release)
  • ✅ Full automated installation
  • ✅ Multi-domain support
  • ✅ AI-based spam/phishing detection
  • ✅ BEC and typosquatting detection
  • ✅ SpacyWeb management interface
  • ✅ API integration endpoints
v1.1.0 (Planned)
  • ⏳ ClamAV antivirus integration
  • ⏳ Enhanced quarantine management
  • ⏳ End-user self-service portal
  • ⏳ Let's Encrypt SSL automation
  • ⏳ Multi-server clustering

Get Started Today

Deploy enterprise-grade email security in minutes

curl -sSL http://install.openefa.com/install.sh | sudo bash

Installation time: 10-15 minutes | Complexity: Low | Cost: Free and open source

View on GitHub →

Success Stories

OpenEFA is currently protecting production email systems, processing thousands of emails daily with:

  • 95%+ spam detection accuracy
  • < 0.1% false positive rate
  • Zero authentication false positives with proper integration
  • Excellent resource efficiency (~1GB RAM total)

Support & Community

Forum

Community support and discussions

Visit Forum
GitHub

Report issues and contribute

Report Issue
Documentation

Complete installation guides

Read Docs
About the Author

Scott Barbour is the creator of OpenEFA and lead developer. With over 20 years of experience in email security and systems administration, he built OpenEFA to address the gap left by the discontinuation of the EFA Project, bringing modern AI capabilities to open-source email filtering.