Cooperation is a rare thing in the cut-throat world of technology, but some of the world’s biggest email providers are teaming up to help cut the incidence of phishing scams.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Yahoo, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, AOL and plenty more are backing something called Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC). Basically, it’s a new technical specification designed to reduce spoof emails and help email senders and receivers share information to ensure a message is legitimate.
I know, it sounds kinda dull. But if the scheme’s successful, it will mean that (a) we have far less inbox crap we have to worry about filtering and (b) fewer stupid people will suffer identity fraud.
That’s kind of a big if, I admit. For a start, service providers need to get on board with implementing the DMARC system, and quite how keen the industry as a whole will be for such changes is uncertain.
Still, getting such big names behind the initiative is a good start. Let’s see if it works. [DMARC via Wall Street Journal; Image: alex_lee2001]