Yahoo! to test new anti-spam tool

Yahoo! Inc. and EathLink Inc. today announced they would begin attaching digital signatures using a new anti-spam technology to all of its outgoing emails to separate e-mails from unwanted soliciting emails – spam.

The anti-spam technology developed by Yahoo! uses “domain key", an embedded encrypted digital signature created by the server that sends the message.

The digital signature allows the receivers to verify that the message comes from where it claims, thus preventing “phishing” attacks where spammers use familiar e-mail addresses to launch social engineering attacks or viruses.

Many security professionals agree that “domain key” technology provides a high-level of security, but the implementation is much difficult than other traditional anti-spam technologies.

In the meantime, Yahoo! has picked up endorsements from Google, EarthLink and Indian Internet provider Sify.