The addition of Sender ID to Exchange 2003 SP2 will be the first time Microsoft's mail server includes an authentication technology, although Microsoft has been pushing the scheme for more than a year. It's also been using Sender ID on its free Hotmail e-mail service, where it claimed the authentication has reduced spam and phishing scams, although it hasn't released hard numbers.
Sender ID, like other authentication protocols, verifies the sending IP address against the purported owner of that domain. The goal is to reduce address spoofing, where spammers and phishers disguise their true identities.
In Exchange 2003 SP2, the Sender ID check will be used as another input to the software's Intelligent Message Filter, an anti-spam filtering feature that Exchange has offered to all customers since SP1 debuted just over a year ago.
SP2 will also get an update to Intelligent Message Filter, Microsoft announced Monday, that will emphasize reducing spam false positives and blocking phishing e-mails.
Microsoft plans to release Exchange SP2 in the second half of 2005.