SAN FRANCISCO, June 26 /PRNewswire/ --

Network operators and ISPs from around the world have cooperated on two
new best practice papers addressing technical issues that will help block
botnet-induced spam and improve the deliverability of consumers' personal
emails. The recommendations for sharing IP address space and for email
forwarding were approved at a Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG) 
meeting in Heidelberg, Germany last week and are available today.

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"MAAWG Methods for Sharing Dynamic IP Address Space Information with
Others" resolves a concern heightened by the proliferation of botnets, which
often use dynamic addresses to send spam. The paper describes four approaches
to make these addresses more easily obtainable by mailbox providers and
includes a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of each.

The methods in the paper "MAAWG Recommendations: Email Forwarding Best
Practices" will help ISPs distinguish legitimate consumers using a forwarding
service from spammers. It outlines practices to improve cooperation between
volume forwarders and network operators to avoid unintentionally blocking
valid accounts because of abusive incoming mail.

Help Distinguish Legitimate from Potentially Criminal

The address sharing recommendations were developed to assist mailbox
providers that do not accept email sent from dynamic IP addresses. While most
consumers connect to the Web through modems using a dynamic address, their
email is usually funneled through their ISP's mail server, which has a static
(non-changing) IP address. But when a bot invades a consumer's computer, it
often bypasses the ISP's mail server so that the resulting spam comes
directly from the user's dynamic address. Identifying the ranges of network
addresses that each ISP has assigned as dynamic addresses so that mailbox
providers can identify and cut off botnet-induced spam, has been a complex
and difficult process.

"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. The
recommendations are another necessary step toward helping mailbox providers
eliminate spam originating from botnets before it hits users' inboxes," said
J.D. Falk, MAAWG Board member and Return Path director of product management.

The forwarding best practices also provide technical recommendations to
improve communications between sending and receiving entities. Many mailbox
providers and institutions offer consumers either a permanent email address
or a short-lived, temporary address set up so that messages are forwarded to
consumers' underlying ISP account. Over time, these addresses may receive and
forward a significant volume of junk mail, causing the user's ISP to conclude
that the forwarding service is a spam source and block all incoming mail from
that service. The MAAWG paper outlines 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.

Jordan Rosenwald, co-editor of the forwarding paper and Comcast manager
of anti-abuse technologies, said, "Any address will attract some spam and
incoming traffic from a forwarded account that has been in use for years can
look like a deluge of spam, causing an ISP to block it. Spammers also are
developing new ways to use forwarded email to their advantage, so the steps
outlined in this paper will provide savings for both forwarders and
receivers, but more importantly, can help protect consumers from being
unnecessarily and unintentionally blocked."

Both papers are available at no cost from the MAAWG Web site,
www.MAAWG.org. They were finalized at the MAAWG 13th General Meeting, which
was attended by over 230 abuse and privacy professionals from ISPs, email
providers and vendors representing 18 countries. The trade association's
final meeting for 2008 will be Sept. 22-24 in Fort Lauderdale, Fl., and will
include working sessions and expert speakers on a variety of topics including
botnets and increasing worldwide anti-abuse cooperation.

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 (www.MAAWG.org) represents
almost one billion mailboxes from some of the largest network operators
worldwide. It is the only organization addressing messaging abuse
holistically by systematically engaging all aspects of the problem, including
technology, industry collaboration and public policy. MAAWG 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.

Media Contact: Linda Marcus, APR, +1-714-974-6356, lmarcus@astra.cc,
Astra Communications

MAAWG Board of Directors: AOL; AT&T (NYSE: T); Bell Canada; Charter
Communications (Nasdaq: CHTR); Cloudmark; Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA); Cox
Communications; France Telecom (NYSE and Euronext: FTE); Goodmail Systems;
Openwave Systems (Nasdaq: OPWV); Return Path, Inc. (Full-Member
representative to the Board); Time Warner Cable; Verizon Communications; and
Yahoo! Inc.

MAAWG Full Members: 1&1 Internet AG; AG Interactive; Bizanga LTD;
BlueTie, Inc.; Eloqua Corporation; Google, Inc.; Internet Initiative Japan,
(IIJ NASDAQ: IIJI); IronPort Systems; McAfee Inc.; MX Logic; Outblaze LTD;
Return Path, Inc.; SPAMHAUS (The Spamhaus Project); Sprint; Sun Microsystems,
Inc.; Symantec; and Telefonica SA.

A complete member list is available at http://www.maawg.org/about/roster.

Web site: http://www.maawg.org