Global Anti-Spam Organization MAAWG Liaisons With IETF and BITS/Financial Services Roundtable

Relationships Will Enhance Industry's Messaging Security

SAN FRANCISCO, December 18 - Bolstering industry cooperation against malware, bots and spam, the
Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG) has formalized new liaison
relationships with the international standards body IETF (Internet
Engineering Task Force), and BITS, the technology policy division of the
Financial Services Roundtable representing 100 of the largest U.S. financial
institutions providing banking, insurance, and investment products and
services.

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The new liaisons will help expedite the adoption of MAAWG best practices
among a wider audience of industry professionals. The IETF is beginning work
to convert selected MAAWG documents into industry-adopted Best Common
Practices and will comment on MAAWG technology recommendations for tackling
spam and malware. BITS will also provide important feedback to MAAWG working
committees on email authentication and the specific messaging concerns facing
the financial services industry.

"Sharing anti-abuse expertise and industry best practices is our first
line of defense as the industry works to protect end-users. Our relationships
with the IETF and BITS will be a conduit between the extensive knowledge of
these organizations and the expertise of MAAWG members who are on the front
lines of fighting spam. MAAWG members are ISPs, email providers, volume
senders, social networking sites and anti-virus vendors, all of whom
interface with users everyday," said MAAWG Chairman Michael O'Reirdan.

New Liaisons Expand Industry's Messaging Safety Efforts

As an industry association, MAAWG issues recommended best practices
developed by its members. The IETF (www.ietf.org) is an international
governing body overseeing Internet operations and will publish selected MAAWG
work as industry-official Best Common Practices.

The IETF liaison to MAAWG, Barry Leiba, said, "The new liaison
relationship between the IETF and MAAWG will give us a channel to get work
flowing between the two organizations. We expect to get more input into IETF
standards from MAAWG members, and to get more exposure and feedback on some
of MAAWG's work by bringing it into the IETF."

The Financial Services Roundtable's BITS division (www.bits.org) will
work with MAAWG on email authentication and other messaging issues.

BITS Vice President of Security Paul Smocer said, "We're pleased to form
this formal liaison with MAAWG. Combating email abuse through strong email
authentication is a priority for BITS members and their customers. MAAWG
support to help promote email authentication is a clear indication of both
the ISPs and messaging industry's commitment to consumer protection in
general, and the financial services industry's efforts to work with our
service providers." BITS focuses on strategic issues where industry
cooperation serves the public good, such as critical infrastructure
protection, fraud prevention, and the safety of financial services.

About the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG)

The Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG) is where the messaging
industry comes together to work against spam, viruses, denial-of-service
attacks and other online exploitation. MAAWG (www.MAAWG.org) represents
almost one billion mailboxes from some of the largest network operators
worldwide. It is the only organization addressing messaging abuse
holistically by systematically engaging all aspects of the problem, including
technology, industry collaboration and public policy. MAAWG leverages the
depth and experience of its global membership to tackle abuse on existing
networks and new emerging services. Headquartered in San Francisco, Calif.,
MAAWG is an open forum driven by market needs and supported by major network
operators and messaging providers.

Media Contact: Linda Marcus, APR, +1-714-974-6356, LMarcus@astra.cc,
Astra Communications

MAAWG Board of Directors: AOL; AT&T (NYSE: T); Cloudmark, Inc.; Comcast
(Nasdaq: CMCSA); Cox Communications; Eloqua; France Telecom (NYSE and
Euronext: FTE); Goodmail Systems; Openwave Systems (Nasdaq: OPWV); Time
Warner Cable; Verizon Communications; and Yahoo! Inc.

MAAWG Full Members: 1&1 Internet AG; Apple Inc.; Bizanga LTD; Cisco
Systems, Inc.; Constant Contact (CTCT); e-Dialog; Eloqua Corporation;
Experian CheetahMail; Genius.com; Internet Initiative Japan, (IIJ Nasdaq:
IIJI); McAfee Inc.; NeuStar, Inc.; Return Path, Inc.; Spamhaus; Sprint; and
Symantec

A complete member list is available at www.maawg.org/about/roster.

Linda Marcus, APR, of Astra Communications for the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG), +1-714-974-6356, LMarcus at astra.cc