TelstraClear plans to introduce an anti-virus and anti-spam filter on both its ISPs, ClearNet and Paradise Net, in October.
Arrangements with the software supplier have not been finalised yet, so the company will not disclose where it has sourced the filter. Earlier this year, TelstraClear was discussing anti-virus software with Trend Micro (see Xtra service 'won't end all viruses'). Calls to Trend Micro in Australia late last week have so far gone unanswered.
The anti-spam element will be configured not only to pick up the usual clues to spam, but to detect senders attempting to forge addresses so the messages appear to come from customers of the ISP. Any incoming message with a From: address of user@clear.net.nz or user@paradise.net.nz will be checked against the list of legitimate users and removed if it does not match, says web marketing manager Michael White.
Some Clear users have been receiving a number of spams with clear.net addresses. This does not indicate that Clear has an open relay or that its security has been compromised in any other way, says White.
“It only takes a simple piece of scripting to spoof such an address”, he says, “and we haven’t been able to do anything about it up to now.”
Rival Xtra has an anti-virus filter, but as yet no anti-spam screening.
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