BT is implementing a fully-automated “spam buster”
system to track down and tackle professional spammers and
“botnet”-infected customers on the BT broadband
network.
BT says around 80% of e-mails on the internet, equivalent to
6.5bn messages a day, are spam.
These unwanted e-mails are not only generated by professional
spammers but also by botnets - where the PCs of unsuspecting
customers are secretly infected with rogue software to form a
robotic network that generates vast quantities of spam.
These compromised machines can be used in turn to attack other
PCs and websites.
The new spam detection system used by BT – Content Forensics
from StreamShield Networks – scans millions of e-mails a day,
providing BT with detailed reports on the location and size of
spam-related problems originating from the BT network.
Not only does the StreamShield Networks’ system save time and
resources by automatically identifying spam problems, it can
prevent valuable bandwidth being wasted on spam and virus infected
traffic.
BT’s customer security team can then take action against
professional spam operators, which could include terminating rogue
accounts and adding offending IP addresses to industry-wide
blacklists.
At the same time, BT said it will be able to focus more effort
on contacting and helping customers rid their PCs of botnet
infections – reducing the likelihood of e-mail traffic from BT
networks being blocked by other providers and third-party e-mail
systems.
“We’re turning the tables on professional spammers and cutting
off this scourge of the internet at source”, said Stratis
Scleparis, chief technical officer at BT Retail.