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THE MESSAGING ANTI-ABUSE WORKING GROUP TO EVALUATE AND RECOMMEND E-MAIL AUTHENTICATION PROTOCOLS

Wilmington, Delaware, – November 4st, 2004 - The Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG), a group of communications and technology companies committed to solving spam, viruses and other forms of messaging abuse, announced today that its members will work toward adopting common standards for the deployment of sender authentication technologies.

Members of the MAAWG technical committee are evaluating the proposals left following the MARID working group, disbanded earlier this year by the IETF. Already, MAAWG technical committee members have begun deploying the Sender Policy Framework proposal for validating the return address of an email message (commonly known as SPF Classic), the latest proposal on SenderID and Client SMTP Validation (CSV). MAAWG will share and discuss the results of this deployment in the upcoming weeks and months.

MAAWG members have also committed to continuing their collaboration efforts to implement additional messaging security measures, such as the use of cryptographic signatures, reputation systems and accreditation agencies and accountability systems.

“Today’s announcement shows that our industry is committed to working together to evaluate, develop and deploy authentication standards that can help alleviate the ongoing spam and phishing menace,” said Tripp Cox, chief technology officer of EarthLink and co-chair of MAAWG’s Technology Subcommittee. “MAAWG members will work collaboratively to share data and results that can help identify and refine the best authentication technology solutions for protecting consumers’ inboxes.”

For more information on MAAWG, please visit www.maawg.org

About MAAWG
The Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG) is an independent non-profit coalition of worldwide carriers and technology providers. MAAWG is dedicated to solving messaging abuse by working along three initiatives – collaboration across operators, best practices technology, and providing an industry voice into public policy.

MAAWG Members include:

  • Sponsors (Board of Directors)
    • America Online
    • Bell Canada
    • BellSouth (NYSE: BLS)
    • Charter Communications (NASDAQ: CHTR)
    • Cloudmark
    • Cox Communications (NYSE: COX)
    • EarthLink (NASDAQ: ELNK)
    • France Telecom
    • Goodmail Systems
    • Openwave Systems (NASDAQ: OPWV)
    • Verizon
  • Full Members
    • Internet Initiative Japan (IIJ, NASDAQ: IIJI)
    • IronPort
    • Sprint
  • Supporters
    • Habeas
    • MX Logic
    • Return Path
    • TDS Telecom, TDS Metrocom (AMEX: TDS)

 

For further information, contact:
Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group
572B Ruger Street
P.O. Box 29920
San Francisco, California
94129-0920
Telephone: 1-415-561-6277
Executive Director,
Jerry Upton
jerry.upton@maawg.org

BellSouth
Brent Fowler
1-404-829-8722
brent.fowler@bellsouth.com


Openwave Systems
Nicole Arena
1-650-346-4293
nicole.arena@openwave.com

Alexandra Trask
EarthLink
404-748-7267 direct
traska@corp.earthlink.net


Verizon
Briana Gowing
1-972-718-6202
briana.gowing@verizon.com

Nicholas Graham
Spokesperson, America Online
703-265-1801