Microsoft is ratcheting up the stakes in the battle against e-mail spam. In late September it will start using SPF records to match e-mail servers against the domains they are alleged to have come from.

What does this mean?

It means that (for instance) ibgames.com has to publish on its DNS server details of which machines mail servers are authorised to send out mail from ibgames.com. The DNS server has the details of how to get to our games, website and other services. We will need to add an extra record for our authorised mail servers.

How will this help?

A large proportion of spam comes from Windows machines that have been compromised by viruses or worms and are now available to spammers to send out spam with forged addresses. Theoretically this will enable the receiver to check that the mail is sent by an authenticated server, and dump anything not authenticated in the bit-bucket.

Theoretically?

Well yes - it's a start but don't expect it to be too long before the hackers figure out a way around it. After all, by definition the information about the machines that are allowed to sent mail is published over the Internet by the DNS system.

So it's a waste of time?

Not exactly. Anything that makes life more difficult for spammers has got to be worthwhile. There is no silver bullet to terminate spammers, we need a combination of technical, social and legal measures. This is just one battle in an ongoing war.

Anything else?

Yes, for the record, this system is called Sender Policy Framework or SPF, so when the geeks try to blind you with acronyms, you at least know what this one is about!

http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/07/22/HNmicrosoftid_1.html

Alan Lenton
25 July 2004

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