^^^OPEN KEYNOTE: Ryan Hamlin, Microsoft - "Toward a Spam Free Future"
Thursday, June 03, 2004 • 9:15 - 10:00am

The elimination of spam requires evolving beyond today's reactive, filtering-based solutions that respond to spam attacks only after a system or network is infiltrated and the majority of the damage has occurred. In this session, Ryan Hamlin, General Manager of Microsoft's Safety Technology & Strategy Group, will discuss how the spam problem can eventually be solved through an integrated, distributed system of inter-connected technologies and services that proactively prevent and protect against spam intrusions by targeting key chokepoints on the network. Ryan will focus on Microsoft's "Three P's" approach for spam containment through technology - Prevention, Protection and Proof.

• Ryan Hamlin, General Manager of the Anti-Spam Technology & Strategy Team, Microsoft

^^^Share notes, comments and questions here

Gates had mentioned a two year timeline and we are now at 19 months. The clock is outside his office. Its a problem they think they will solve.

Email is a jar of beans with a walnut in it.
Walnut = One Good Email
Beans = Spam
Suddenly, everything is clear

• Spam is >60% of email, up from 8% 3 years ago
• 14.5 b emails a day, $20.5B/yr cost to business
• 40% from Zombies (irony is MS' role in this problem)
• All the economics favor the spammer

For Hotmail, 60% of good mail and 50% of spam comes from the US

• 15% of spam comes from China, small portion good
• 7% of good mail comes form Japan, spam nominal

Provides an example of Spamware, low cost $30, 40k open relay and proxies provided.

Amount of spam getting into the inbox is starting to decline (increased false positives?). Bulk is porn/sex/non-graphic. 3.5 tricks per message (spoof, text chaff, good URL).

Their Approach

Legal, Industry Associations and Education. Used passed laws (CANSPAM) to go after top 6 spammers in partnership with others. 14 lawyers working on it, a PI, going after top offenders. Not going to solve it, but a good deterrant. Buffalo Spammer got 3.5-7 years.

Technology:

• Proof (ID and evidence) -- providing legitimate mailers a way of validating
• Prevention Agents
• Attack detection
• Sender reputation
• Outbound filtering
• Protection Filters -- when you get over 90% filtering, false positives increase
• SmartScreen
• At gateway, server and desktop
• Update Security

Proof Technologies

• Identity-based
• SenderID = CallerID + SPF
• Digital Signatures
• Evidence of non-spammer behavior
• Reputation -- accrediation (bonded sender, brightmail)
• Willingness to bear a cost (financial or computational)
• Computational Puzzles
• Challenge response

Pre-solved Computational Proof