Microsoft Delivers New Tools to Help Reduce Spam (News Release)   - 1,449 Views,

REDMOND, Wash., May 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Microsoft Corp.
(Nasdaq: MSFT) today announced new MSN(R) Hotmail(R) 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.

New Tools Against Spam

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. MSN Postmaster offers up-to-date information and tools
addressing a range of issues, including helping fight junk e-mail, improving
delivery of legitimate bulk e-mail messages, streamlining the reporting of
e-mail abuse and assisting with troubleshooting.

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. ISPs
in turn can take appropriate action, such as identifying and cleaning
compromised machines, increasing the security measures for the host or
network, or working with the party that sent the messages to determine if it
is spam or legitimate e-mail.

“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. “With
over 200 million active e-mail accounts worldwide, MSN Hotmail is in a unique
position to collect and analyze e-mail activity data. Working together, MSN
Hotmail and service providers can make their customers happier and more
satisfied with the services we all provide.”

Enhanced Customer Protections

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(R) 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. The technology continues to help
enhance spam filtering and better protect customers’ inboxes while helping
ensure that legitimate e-mail gets through. Sender ID, used in conjunction
with Microsoft SmartScreen technology, has also been useful in helping protect
MSN Hotmail customers from phishing scams. If an e-mail message comes in that
appears to be a phishing attempt, it will not be delivered to consumers’
inboxes, but will instead be sent to their junk e-mail folder; MSN Hotmail
will notify the customer that the “phishy” URL has been disabled to help
protect them.

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. The safety bar has been
designed to alert customers to potential issues with received e-mails by
displaying phrases such as, “The sender of this message could not be verified
by Sender ID.” The alerts will provide customers with options to learn more
about Sender ID with a single mouse click, as well as provide guidance on
staying safe online.

More information about MSN Postmaster and Smart Network Data Services can
be found at http://postmaster.msn.com and http://postmaster.msn.com/snds .
More information about the Sender ID Framework can be found at
http://www.microsoft.com/senderid and at http://www.emailauthentication.org .

For organizations looking to implement Sender ID themselves, Microsoft
will be co-hosting the Email Authentication Implementation Summit 2005 on July
12 with three dozen other industry leaders to help provide information and
best-practice recommendations for implementing e-mail authentication
mechanisms such as Sender ID. More information can be found at
http://emailauthentication.org/summit2005 .