Microsoft Finally Attacks Hotmail Spam

Wednesday, Microsoft announced a strategic alliance with Brightmail, the world-wide leader in anti-spam technology, to protect Microsoft's 110 million MSN Hotmail users from the rampant spam that has plagued the service for months. The companies say that Brightmail's server-based anti-spam technologies will be fully deployed within several weeks.

"Unsolicited junk e-mail is a global problem in the industry today that affects not just Hotmail users, but e-mail users everywhere," says Rick Holzli, the general manager of MSN Hotmail. "Joining forces with a leader such as Brightmail underscores MSN's continued commitment to aggressively fight spam and provide our users with a world-class e-mail experience."

Under terms of the agreement, Brightmail's Solution Suite will filter spam at Hotmail's gateway, allowing the service to remove unwanted email before it ever hits users' inboxes. Brightmail uses patented technology to automatically identify and eliminate spam, the company says. Whatever it is, the technology will surely be a better solution than Hotmail's current anti-spam solution, which appears to have absolutely no effect on the amount of junk mail received by most Hotmail users.