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MAAWG Advocates Self-Regulation to Cut Spam and Viruses SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- With as much as 80 percent of spam messages being sent through "zombies" on personal computers without the owners' knowledge, the industry's Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG) has published its first best practices aimed at shrinking the volume of malicious traffic on the Internet. The MAAWG recommendation for managing port 25 is the result of a cooperative effort among a broad base of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and network operators representing over 500,000,000 mailboxes globally. The MAAWG recommendations include blocking unauthorized access to and from port 25, requiring authentication, and aggregating email traffic through a SMTP server that is controlled by the service provider. The recommendation is being released following a period of public comment and after final approval at the organization's fifth general meeting held during November in Montreal. It is available in English, French and German at http://www.maawg.org/port25. "These practices currently are in use at a significant number of service providers worldwide, many of them MAAWG members, where they are improving network performance without loss of revenue or customers," said Jonathan Curtis from Bell Canada who is chairman of the MAAWG board of directors. Mike Jones, AOL's Director of Anti-Spam Operations and a MAAWG committee member active in drafting the recommendations said, "Managing port 25 in this way effectively reduces spam and filters out viruses and malicious mail. Based on our members' experience, MAAWG is advising the industry to adopt these measures as a standard practice." When the recommendations are followed, a machine that has been victimized by a zombie and unknowingly sending spam can be rapidly identified and quarantined until the problem is corrected. Blocking unauthorized access to port 25 makes it difficult for spammers to initiate virus attacks or send junk mail from rogue servers. Requiring authentication makes it difficult to forge email identities, a method often used to fraudulently elicit personal information from consumers or to conceal spammers' identity. The MAAWG "Recommendation for Managing Port 25 for Residential or Dynamic IP Space" is the first approved by the international body to support its Code of Conduct passed earlier this year. They are recommendations to the general industry based on the accumulated experience of its members. MAAWG is a forum where some of the largest ISPs and network operators are working to reduce online abuse and maintain a reliable and trustworthy online experience for customers. "Self-regulation within the industry is the most effective measure to reduce spam," Curtis said. "The problem has reached such magnitude that it demands immediate attention," he added. About the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG) The Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG) is where the messaging industry comes together to work against spam, viruses, denial-of-service attacks and other online exploitation. MAAWG (http://www.maawg.org/) is the only organization addressing messaging abuse holistically by systematically engaging all aspects of the problem, including technology, industry collaboration and public policy. It leverages the depth and experience of its global membership to tackle abuse on existing networks and new emerging services. Headquartered in San Francisco, Calif., MAAWG is an open forum driven by market needs and supported by major network operators and messaging providers. MAAWG Sponsors (Board of Directors): America Online; Bell Canada; BellSouth (NYSE:BLS); Charter Communications (NASDAQ:CHTR); Cingular Wireless (NYSE:SBC); Cloudmark; Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA); Cox Communications (NYSE:COX); EarthLink (NASDAQ:ELNK); France Telecom; Goodmail Systems; Openwave Systems (NASDAQ:OPWV); Swisscom Fixnet, AG LTD; Verizon Communications; and Yahoo! MAAWG Full Members: Cablevision; Cisco Systems, Inc.; Internet Initiative Japan, (IIJ Nasdaq: IIJI); IronPort Systems; MX Logic; Sprint; Sun Microsystems, Inc.; Symantec; and Verisign, Inc. MAAWG Supporters: Adknowledge, Inc,; Bizanga, LTD; Checkfree Corp.; CheetahMail, An Experian Co.; Cincinnati Bell; Constant Contact; Critical Path, Inc.; DoubleClick, Inc.; e-Dialog; Epsilon Interactive; Fortinet, Inc.; Habeas, Inc.; Messagelabs; NetVision, LLC; Nextel Communications; Omniti Computer Consulting, Inc.; Perftech, Inc.; Pivotal Veracity; Plala Networks Inc.; Return Path, Inc.; RPost; Sendmail; Singlefin; Skylist, Inc.; StrongMail Systems, Inc.; TDC; TDS Telecom; Trend Micro, Inc.; Uptilt, Inc.; Word To The Wise; and Yesmail Contact: Linda Marcus, APR, 714-974-6356 , Astra Communications DATASOURCE: Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group Contact: Linda Marcus, APR, of Astra Communications for Messaging Anti- Abuse Working Group, +1-714-974-6356, or Web site: http://www.maawg.org/ http://www.maawg.org/port25

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