Under the agreement, Brightmail will use its Probe Network, a collection of 200 million e-mail addresses designed to attract spam. Junk e-mail will be automatically identified by Brightmail’s software and will be eliminated at the SMTP gateway, before delivery to Hotmail users’ inboxes.
According to Brightmail, its software has the ability to detect and filter about 90% of unsolicited bulk e-mail. MSN, which characterised spam as “an industrywide concern that has increasingly plagued consumers”, said that the new technology will be put to use later this autumn.
Microsoft claims that there are 110 million Hotmail users worldwide, making it the most popular free web e-mail service; but it is also the most popular target of spammers.