Microsoft Delivers New AntiSpam Tools

Microsoft Corp. (www.msn.com) today announced new MSN® Hotmail® tools and services designed to expand e-mail industry collaboration in fighting spam -- MSN Postmaster and Smart Network Data Services.

These new services complement ongoing industry efforts supported by Microsoft, including e-mail authentication mechanisms such as the Sender ID Framework, to help protect MSN Hotmail customers as well as the overall e-mail community from online safety concerns such as spam, phishing and viruses.

Central to the effort by MSN Hotmail to engage with the e-mail community is the launch of the new MSN Postmaster Web site, an online resource available in 10 languages worldwide designed to help bulk e-mailers, Internet service providers (ISPs), e-mail service providers and others better understand issues and solutions around sending e-mail to users of the MSN Hotmail Web-based e-mail service.

As part of MSN Postmaster, Microsoft is also introducing a preview release of Smart Network Data Services in English. With the new service, ISPs will be able to contribute to the fight against spam and protect e-mail as a valued communications tool.

Smart Network Data Services reports on a variety of characteristics of e-mail traffic sent to MSN Hotmail. For instance, an ISP can find out the volume of e-mail being sent from its IP space to MSN Hotmail, how that e-mail is impacted by MSN Hotmail spam filtering, and what percentage of its e-mail has been marked as spam by MSN Hotmail and MSN customers.

"MSN Postmaster and Smart Data Network Services represent a move by Microsoft toward broader, more-comprehensive and transparent information-sharing with ISPs and e-mail senders to help protect e-mail and ensure that it continues to be an essential and valuable communications tool," said Kevin Doerr, product unit manager for MSN Hotmail at Microsoft.

The industry information and tools offered by MSN Postmaster dovetail with existing Microsoft efforts implemented to help protect MSN Hotmail consumers from online safety concerns such as spam and phishing, including Sender ID and Microsoft® SmartScreen (TM) technology.

In January, MSN Hotmail implemented Sender ID, an e-mail authentication technology protocol championed by Microsoft and other industry leaders, that helps address the problem of domain spoofing.

Microsoft continues to invest in Sender ID, and MSN in the coming months will make Sender ID "warning alert" notifications visible via a new safety bar in the MSN Hotmail user interface in 20 languages.