diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Actor.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Actor.scala
index b5f2093f90..993ec90bb3 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Actor.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Actor.scala
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ case object Kill extends Kill {
  * to another actor you should send the information in your own message.
  */
 @SerialVersionUID(1L)
-case class Terminated private[akka] (@BeanProperty actor: ActorRef)(@BeanProperty val existenceConfirmed: Boolean) extends AutoReceivedMessage
+case class Terminated private[akka] (@BeanProperty actor: ActorRef)(@BeanProperty val existenceConfirmed: Boolean) extends AutoReceivedMessage with PossiblyHarmful
 
 /**
  * INTERNAL API
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ case class Terminated private[akka] (@BeanProperty actor: ActorRef)(@BeanPropert
  * and translates this event to [[akka.actor.Terminated]], which is sent itself.
  */
 @SerialVersionUID(1L)
-private[akka] case class AddressTerminated(address: Address) extends AutoReceivedMessage
+private[akka] case class AddressTerminated(address: Address) extends AutoReceivedMessage with PossiblyHarmful
 
 abstract class ReceiveTimeout extends PossiblyHarmful
 
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ case object ReceiveTimeout extends ReceiveTimeout {
  * nested path descriptions whenever using ! on them, the idea being that the
  * message is delivered by active routing of the various actors involved.
  */
-sealed trait SelectionPath extends AutoReceivedMessage
+sealed trait SelectionPath extends AutoReceivedMessage with PossiblyHarmful
 
 /**
  * Internal use only
diff --git a/akka-docs/rst/java/remoting.rst b/akka-docs/rst/java/remoting.rst
index fc0e605042..44860b6e6b 100644
--- a/akka-docs/rst/java/remoting.rst
+++ b/akka-docs/rst/java/remoting.rst
@@ -348,23 +348,44 @@ Akka provides a couple of ways to enhance security between remote nodes (client/
 Untrusted Mode
 --------------
 
-You can enable untrusted mode for preventing system messages to be send by clients, e.g. messages like.
-This will prevent the client to send these messages to the server:
-
-* ``Create``
-* ``Recreate``
-* ``Suspend``
-* ``Resume``
-* ``Terminate``
-* ``Supervise``
-* ``ChildTerminated``
-* ``Link``
-* ``Unlink``
-
-Here is how to turn it on in the config::
+As soon as an actor system can connect to another remotely, it may in principle
+send any possible message to any actor contained within that remote system. One
+example may be sending a :class:`PoisonPill` to the system guardian, shutting
+that system down. This is not always desired, and it can be disabled with the
+following setting::
 
     akka.remote.untrusted-mode = on
 
+This disallows sending of system messages (actor life-cycle commands,
+DeathWatch, etc.) and any message extending :class:`PossiblyHarmful` to the
+system on which this flag is set. Should a client send them nonetheless they
+are dropped and logged (at DEBUG level in order to reduce the possibilities for
+a denial of service attack). :class:`PossiblyHarmful` covers the predefined
+messages like :class:`PoisonPill` and :class:`Kill`, but it can also be added
+as a marker trait to user-defined messages.
+
+In summary, the following operations are ignored by a system configured in
+untrusted mode when incoming via the remoting layer:
+
+* remote deployment (which also means no remote supervision)
+* remote DeathWatch
+* ``system.stop()``, :class:`PoisonPill`, :class:`Kill`
+* sending any message which extends from the :class:`PossiblyHarmful` marker
+  interface, which includes :class:`Terminated`
+
+.. note::
+
+  Enabling the untrusted mode does not remove the capability of the client to
+  freely choose the target of its message sends, which means that messages not
+  prohibited by the above rules can be sent to any actor in the remote system.
+  It is good practice for a client-facing system to only contain a well-defined
+  set of entry point actors, which then forward requests (possibly after
+  performing validation) to another actor system containing the actual worker
+  actors. If messaging between these two server-side systems is done using
+  local :class:`ActorRef` (they can be exchanged safely between actor systems
+  within the same JVM), you can restrict the messages on this interface by
+  marking them :class:`PossiblyHarmful` so that a client cannot forge them.
+
 Secure Cookie Handshake
 -----------------------
 
diff --git a/akka-docs/rst/scala/remoting.rst b/akka-docs/rst/scala/remoting.rst
index 5570c618d3..ca7220a419 100644
--- a/akka-docs/rst/scala/remoting.rst
+++ b/akka-docs/rst/scala/remoting.rst
@@ -350,23 +350,44 @@ Akka provides a couple of ways to enhance security between remote nodes (client/
 Untrusted Mode
 --------------
 
-You can enable untrusted mode for preventing system messages to be send by clients, e.g. messages like.
-This will prevent the client to send these messages to the server:
-
-* ``Create``
-* ``Recreate``
-* ``Suspend``
-* ``Resume``
-* ``Terminate``
-* ``Supervise``
-* ``ChildTerminated``
-* ``Link``
-* ``Unlink``
-
-Here is how to turn it on in the config::
+As soon as an actor system can connect to another remotely, it may in principle
+send any possible message to any actor contained within that remote system. One
+example may be sending a :class:`PoisonPill` to the system guardian, shutting
+that system down. This is not always desired, and it can be disabled with the
+following setting::
 
     akka.remote.untrusted-mode = on
 
+This disallows sending of system messages (actor life-cycle commands,
+DeathWatch, etc.) and any message extending :class:`PossiblyHarmful` to the
+system on which this flag is set. Should a client send them nonetheless they
+are dropped and logged (at DEBUG level in order to reduce the possibilities for
+a denial of service attack). :class:`PossiblyHarmful` covers the predefined
+messages like :class:`PoisonPill` and :class:`Kill`, but it can also be added
+as a marker trait to user-defined messages.
+
+In summary, the following operations are ignored by a system configured in
+untrusted mode when incoming via the remoting layer:
+
+* remote deployment (which also means no remote supervision)
+* remote DeathWatch
+* ``system.stop()``, :class:`PoisonPill`, :class:`Kill`
+* sending any message which extends from the :class:`PossiblyHarmful` marker
+  interface, which includes :class:`Terminated`
+
+.. note::
+
+  Enabling the untrusted mode does not remove the capability of the client to
+  freely choose the target of its message sends, which means that messages not
+  prohibited by the above rules can be sent to any actor in the remote system.
+  It is good practice for a client-facing system to only contain a well-defined
+  set of entry point actors, which then forward requests (possibly after
+  performing validation) to another actor system containing the actual worker
+  actors. If messaging between these two server-side systems is done using
+  local :class:`ActorRef` (they can be exchanged safely between actor systems
+  within the same JVM), you can restrict the messages on this interface by
+  marking them :class:`PossiblyHarmful` so that a client cannot forge them.
+
 Secure Cookie Handshake
 -----------------------
 
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteActorRefProvider.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteActorRefProvider.scala
index c517fa8a14..0a23cef44d 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteActorRefProvider.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteActorRefProvider.scala
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ class RemoteActorRefProvider(
   def init(system: ActorSystemImpl): Unit = {
     local.init(system)
 
-    _remoteDaemon = new RemoteSystemDaemon(system, rootPath / "remote", rootGuardian, log)
+    _remoteDaemon = new RemoteSystemDaemon(system, rootPath / "remote", rootGuardian, log, untrustedMode = remoteSettings.UntrustedMode)
     local.registerExtraNames(Map(("remote", remoteDaemon)))
 
     _serialization = SerializationExtension(system)
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteDaemon.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteDaemon.scala
index 53023687c0..b3a393202f 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteDaemon.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteDaemon.scala
@@ -21,7 +21,12 @@ private[akka] case class DaemonMsgCreate(props: Props, deploy: Deploy, path: Str
  *
  * INTERNAL USE ONLY!
  */
-private[akka] class RemoteSystemDaemon(system: ActorSystemImpl, _path: ActorPath, _parent: InternalActorRef, _log: LoggingAdapter)
+private[akka] class RemoteSystemDaemon(
+  system: ActorSystemImpl,
+  _path: ActorPath,
+  _parent: InternalActorRef,
+  _log: LoggingAdapter,
+  val untrustedMode: Boolean)
   extends VirtualPathContainer(system.provider, _path, _parent, _log) {
 
   /**
@@ -53,6 +58,7 @@ private[akka] class RemoteSystemDaemon(system: ActorSystemImpl, _path: ActorPath
     case message: DaemonMsg ⇒
       log.debug("Received command [{}] to RemoteSystemDaemon on [{}]", message, path.address)
       message match {
+        case DaemonMsgCreate(_, _, path, _) if untrustedMode ⇒ log.debug("does not accept deployments (untrusted) for {}", path)
         case DaemonMsgCreate(props, deploy, path, supervisor) ⇒
           path match {
             case ActorPathExtractor(address, elems) if elems.nonEmpty && elems.head == "remote" ⇒
@@ -65,7 +71,7 @@ private[akka] class RemoteSystemDaemon(system: ActorSystemImpl, _path: ActorPath
               addChild(subpath.mkString("/"), actor)
               this.sendSystemMessage(Watch(actor, this))
             case _ ⇒
-              log.error("remote path does not match path from message [{}]", message)
+              log.debug("remote path does not match path from message [{}]", message)
           }
       }
 
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteTransport.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteTransport.scala
index bfbb8529be..f3e52425cd 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteTransport.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteTransport.scala
@@ -268,30 +268,33 @@ abstract class RemoteTransport(val system: ExtendedActorSystem, val provider: Re
 
     remoteMessage.recipient match {
       case `remoteDaemon` ⇒
-        if (provider.remoteSettings.LogReceive) log.debug("received daemon message {}", remoteMessage)
-        remoteMessage.payload match {
-          case m @ (_: DaemonMsg | _: Terminated) ⇒
-            try remoteDaemon ! m catch {
-              case e: Exception ⇒ log.error(e, "exception while processing remote command {} from {}", m, remoteMessage.sender)
-            }
-          case x ⇒ log.warning("remoteDaemon received illegal message {} from {}", x, remoteMessage.sender)
+        if (useUntrustedMode) log.debug("dropping daemon message {} in untrusted mode", remoteMessage.payload.getClass)
+        else {
+          if (provider.remoteSettings.LogReceive) log.debug("received daemon message {}", remoteMessage)
+          remoteMessage.payload match {
+            case m @ (_: DaemonMsg | _: Terminated) ⇒
+              try remoteDaemon ! m catch {
+                case e: Exception ⇒ log.error(e, "exception while processing remote command {} from {}", m, remoteMessage.sender)
+              }
+            case x ⇒ log.debug("remoteDaemon received illegal message {} from {}", x, remoteMessage.sender)
+          }
         }
       case l @ (_: LocalRef | _: RepointableRef) if l.isLocal ⇒
         if (provider.remoteSettings.LogReceive) log.debug("received local message {}", remoteMessage)
         remoteMessage.payload match {
-          case msg: PossiblyHarmful if useUntrustedMode ⇒ log.warning("operating in UntrustedMode, dropping inbound PossiblyHarmful message of type {}", msg.getClass)
+          case msg: PossiblyHarmful if useUntrustedMode ⇒ log.debug("operating in UntrustedMode, dropping inbound PossiblyHarmful message of type {}", msg.getClass)
           case msg: SystemMessage                       ⇒ l.sendSystemMessage(msg)
           case msg                                      ⇒ l.!(msg)(remoteMessage.sender)
         }
-      case r @ (_: RemoteRef | _: RepointableRef) if !r.isLocal ⇒
+      case r @ (_: RemoteRef | _: RepointableRef) if !r.isLocal && !useUntrustedMode ⇒
         if (provider.remoteSettings.LogReceive) log.debug("received remote-destined message {}", remoteMessage)
         remoteMessage.originalReceiver match {
           case AddressFromURIString(address) if address == provider.transport.address ⇒
             // if it was originally addressed to us but is in fact remote from our point of view (i.e. remote-deployed)
             r.!(remoteMessage.payload)(remoteMessage.sender)
-          case r ⇒ log.error("dropping message {} for non-local recipient {} arriving at {} inbound address is {}", remoteMessage.payload, r, address, provider.transport.address)
+          case r ⇒ log.debug("dropping message {} for non-local recipient {} arriving at {} inbound address is {}", remoteMessage.payload, r, address, provider.transport.address)
         }
-      case r ⇒ log.error("dropping message {} for unknown recipient {} arriving at {} inbound address is {}", remoteMessage.payload, r, address, provider.transport.address)
+      case r ⇒ log.debug("dropping message {} for unknown recipient {} arriving at {} inbound address is {}", remoteMessage.payload, r, address, provider.transport.address)
     }
   }
 }
@@ -333,5 +336,5 @@ class RemoteMessage(input: RemoteMessageProtocol, system: ExtendedActorSystem) {
   /**
    * Returns a String representation of this RemoteMessage, intended for debugging purposes.
    */
-  override def toString: String = "RemoteMessage: " + payload + " to " + recipient + "<+{" + originalReceiver + "} from " + sender
+  override def toString: String = "RemoteMessage: " + payload.getClass + " to " + recipient + "<+{" + originalReceiver + "} from " + sender
 }
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/RemoteCommunicationSpec.scala b/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/RemoteCommunicationSpec.scala
index 5a43e90443..962fad88fc 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/RemoteCommunicationSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/RemoteCommunicationSpec.scala
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import scala.concurrent.Future
 import scala.concurrent.Await
 import scala.reflect.classTag
 import akka.pattern.ask
+import akka.event.Logging
 
 object RemoteCommunicationSpec {
   class Echo extends Actor {
@@ -76,9 +77,12 @@ akka {
     }
 
     "send error message for wrong address" in {
-      EventFilter.error(start = "dropping", occurrences = 1).intercept {
+      val old = other.eventStream.logLevel
+      other.eventStream.setLogLevel(Logging.DebugLevel)
+      EventFilter.debug(start = "dropping", occurrences = 1).intercept {
         system.actorFor("akka://remotesys@localhost:12346/user/echo") ! "ping"
       }(other)
+      other.eventStream.setLogLevel(old)
     }
 
     "support ask" in {
diff --git a/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/TestActorRef.scala b/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/TestActorRef.scala
index 57aedba34f..4d8e2bdd4a 100644
--- a/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/TestActorRef.scala
+++ b/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/TestActorRef.scala
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ class TestActorRef[T <: Actor](
 
 object TestActorRef {
 
-  private case object InternalGetActor extends AutoReceivedMessage
+  private case object InternalGetActor extends AutoReceivedMessage with PossiblyHarmful
 
   private val number = new AtomicLong
   private[testkit] def randomName: String = {