Microsoft fires up anti-spam site

Microsoft has debuted its MSN Postmaster website, which offers tools and services designed to combat spam.

MSN Postmaster marks the software giant's latest effort to increase its presence in the security arena, a lucrative area that has attracted a large swathe of competitors.

Postmaster is an online resource that offers tools to help internet service providers (ISPs), email service providers and legitimate bulk emailers combat junk email, streamline the reporting process for spam and assist in delivering legitimate bulk email to MSN Hotmail users.

It will also include the software giant's new Smart Network Data Services, which will provide reports on the types of email being sent to MSN Hotmail accounts. The tracking service will inform ISPs of the volume of email being sent from their IP address to MSN Hotmail users and the percentage of it tagged as spam - either by Hotmail filters or by the user themselves.

With that information, ISPs can identify and clean compromised PCs and question bulk emailers to determine whether they are spammers.

Kevin Doerr, product unit manager for MSN Hotmail, said in a statement: "MSN Postmaster and Smart Network Data Services represent a move by Microsoft toward broader, more comprehensive and transparent information-sharing with ISPs and email senders."

Security experts say ISPs are reluctant to shut down customers' accounts, even if they appear to be inadvertently pumping out spam. For ISPs, shutting down a customer's account means lost revenue while they try to determine whether or not the email their customer is distributing is legitimate.

Dawn Kawamoto writes for CNET News.com