Microsoft to Enforce Antispam Plan

Microsoft will soon check e-mail messages sent to its Hotmail, MSN, and Microsoft.com mail accounts to see if they come from valid e-mail servers, as identified by the Sender ID.

With Microsoft as one of the largest e-mail providers, the company's decision to enforce SPF record checking will ripple throughout the Internet. However, administrators at e-mail providers and ISPs ultimately decide whether to validate incoming messages' PRAs, and what to do with messages that fail the check, according to Webb. Mail Transfer Agent vendors, which make e-mail servers, must also design their products to act on the Sender ID authentication information, he says.

Microsoft is reaching out to major ISPs through the Global Infrastructure Alliance for Internet Safety, an international ISP working group, informing them of its plans and encouraging them to publish SPF records. The company is also working with leading MTA makers, including Sendmail and IBM, Webb says.

PC World is carrying this article.