27 June 2008

New Efforts to Battle Botnet-Driven Spam

John Sterlicchi

Network operators and ISPs from around the world are working together to address issues that will help block botnet-induced spam.

The Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG) set up guidelines at a meeting in Germany last week that tackled forwarded email and email sent from dynamic Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.

The best practices provide technical recommendations to improve communications between sending and receiving entities. The MAAWG also published two papers that outline steps forwarders can implement to improve deliverability and speed problem resolutions, such as separating sending and forwarding server functions.

Practices for receivers include posting policies on the Web and recognizing IP space designated for forwarding.

“There have been industry discussions about sharing dynamic IP addresses for years, and even some proposals, but this paper represents the first time a sizeable group of ISPs have come together to agree on how to do it,” J. D. Falk, MAAWG board member and Return Path director of product management said in a statement.

MAAWG also issued recommendations for helping ISPs separate spammers from legitimate users who deploy email forwarding services and for avoiding inadvertently blocking legitimate accounts.

According to the group, spammers are developing new ways to use forwarded email to their advantage, so the steps outlined in the paper will provide for both forwarders and receivers.

Both papers are available at no cost from the MAAWG web site, www.MAAWG.org.

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