Sender ID authentication alerts will now show up in a new interface as Microsoft tries to protect its users from spam and scams.
Microsoft cites a Ferris Research report, where 80 to 90 percent of all e-mail messages are spam, as a factor in its implementation of Sender ID. That volume of junk messages will cost businesses worldwide about $50 billion USD this year.
In combination with its SmartScreen technology, Microsoft says it intercepts 3.2 billion junk messages to its Hotmail users every single day. Microsoft has been promoting SIDF to the industry as a viable method of authenticating valid sender domains worldwide.
The new safety bar available to Hotmail users tells them when an arriving e-mail message cannot have its sender domain authenticated under SIDF. This will encourage users to be prudent when handling certain incoming e-mails.
One possible area where the technology could impede legitimate e-mails would be in the case of certain e-mail forwarding services.
Two examples cited were alumni associations that provide graduates an e-mail address that forwards to their existing e-mail account, and services that let someone click a “send to a friend” link to forward a story found on a web site.
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
