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.
