Microsoft drums up Sender ID support to combat spam

Microsoft has extended its spam-fighting efforts by launching new services to help email senders reduce the chances of their legitimate messages being blocked.

Ahead of the Email Authentication Summit in Chicago, the software giant launched a new MSN Postmaster Services programme to help organisations better manage their outbound email systems. As part of the programme, Microsoft has set up a new web site, which offers parties such as bulk email senders, ISPs and domain administrators advice and tools for sending communications to MSN Hotmail consumers.

Microsoft said there was growing support for its Sender ID email authentication system, with a fifth of Fortune 500 firms having deployed the technology. Sender ID verifies messages by checking the IP address of the sender’s server against a list of legitimate addresses for that particular domain to prevent junk email reaching users’ inboxes.

According to new data from monitoring specialist MarkMonitor, there are now more than two million .com and .net domains that publish their Sender Policy Framework (SPF) records for Sender ID verification, up from 750,000 in March 2005.