Knowledgebase

Starting Wednesday, July 15, 2026, all unauthenticated email will be rejected, to reduce spam and phishing.

Email sent from a website (e.g. contact forms, orders, etc.) must authenticate using an email account in cPanel -> Email section -> Email Accounts.

WordPress

Install and configure a WordPress plugin, such as GoSMTP, WP Mail SMTP, etc.

PHPMailer

Update existing PHP code using PHPMailer to authenticate when sending email through the website.

Here is sample PHP code to authenticate when sending with PHPMailer:

<?php
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\PHPMailer;
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\Exception;

// Download copy of PHPMailer from GitHub (https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer)
// Upload PHPMailer to your hosting service
// Update paths below to your copy of PHPMailer
require '/home/cpanelusername/PHPMailer/src/Exception.php';
require '/home/cpanelusername/PHPMailer/src/PHPMailer.php';
require '/home/cpanelusername/PHPMailer/src/SMTP.php';

$mail = new PHPMailer(true);

try {
    // Server settings
    $mail->isSMTP();                                      // Use SMTP
    $mail->Host       = 'mail.example.com';               // SMTP server
    $mail->Port       = 465;                              // Port for SSL
    $mail->SMTPSecure = PHPMailer::ENCRYPTION_SMTPS;      // Use SSL encryption
    $mail->SMTPAuth   = true;                             // Enable authentication
    $mail->Username   = 'your_email@example.com';         // SMTP username
    $mail->Password   = 'your_password';                  // SMTP password

    // Optional: handle self-signed certificates
    $mail->SMTPOptions = [
        'ssl' => [
            'verify_peer'       => false,
            'verify_peer_name'  => false,
            'allow_self_signed' => true
        ]
    ];

    // Sender & recipient
    $mail->setFrom('your_email@example.com', 'Your Name');
    $mail->addAddress('recipient@example.com', 'Recipient Name');

    // Content
    $mail->isHTML(true);
    $mail->Subject = 'Test Email via PHPMailer SSL Port 465';
    $mail->Body    = '<h1>Hello!</h1><p>This is a test email sent using PHPMailer over SSL (port 465).</p>';
    $mail->AltBody = 'Hello! This is a test email sent using PHPMailer over SSL (port 465).';

    // Send email
    $mail->send();
    echo "Message has been sent successfully.";
}
catch (Exception $e) {
    echo "Message could not be sent. Mailer Error: {$mail->ErrorInfo}";
}

PEAR Mail

Update existing PHP code using PEAR Mail to authenticate when sending email through the website.

Here is sample PHP code to authenticate when sending with PEAR Mail:

<?php
// Download a copy of PEAR Mail and Mime libraries (https://pear.php.net/package/Mail/download)
// Upload PEAR Mail and Mime libraries to your hosting service
// Update paths below to your copy of PEAR Mail
require_once "/home/cpanelusername/PEAR/Mail.php";
require_once "/home/cpanelusername/PEAR/Mail/mime.php";

$smtp = Mail::factory(
    'smtp',						// Use SMTP
    array(
        'host'     => 'ssl://mail.example.com',		// SMTP server
        'port'     => 465,				// Port for SSL
        'auth'     => true,				// Enable authentication
        'username' => 'your_email@example.com',		// SMTP username
        'password' => "your_password"			// SMTP password
    )
);

$from = "Your Name <your_email@example.com>";
$to = "Recipient Name <recipient@example.com>";
$cc = "cc-user@example.com";
$bcc = "bcc-user@example.com";

$headers = array (
    'From'    => $from,
    'To'      => $to,
    'Cc'      => $cc,
    'Subject' => $subject
);

$subject = "Test Email via PEAR Mail SSL Port 465";

$htmlBody = "<html><h1>Hello!</h1><p>This is a test email sent using PEAR Mail over SSL (port 465).</p></html>";
$textBody = "Hello! This is a test email sent using PEAR Mail over SSL (port 465).";

$mime = new Mail_mime(array('eol' => "\n"));
$mime->setHTMLBody($htmlBody);
$mime->setTXTBody($textBody);

$body = $mime->get();
$headers = $mime->headers($headers);

// Note: To and Cc go in the headers, but ALL recipients (To, Cc, Bcc) must be in the SMTP envelope.
$recipients = $to . ", " . $cc . ", " . $bcc;

$mail = $smtp->send($recipients, $headers, $body);

if (PEAR::isError($mail)) {
    echo("<p>" . $mail->getMessage() . "</p>");
}
else {
    echo("<p>Message successfully sent!</p>");
}

Please let us know if you have any questions or need further help.