Microsoft, Verizon in Top 10 Spam-Friendly Networks

Spam continues to plague the Internet because a small number of large Internet Service Providers sell service knowingly to professional spammers for profit, or do nothing to prevent spammers operating from their networks.

The software giant’s high ranking in the unsolicited email game might, it would be fair to surmise, cause a few blushes among Redmond wonks.

Not so, according to Spamhaus chief information officer Richard Cox, who claims to have repeatedly notified MS about its rise up the inglorious list, to no avail.

He told the Washington Post that the company’s live.com and livefilestore.com web properties are being abused by swindlers and scammers who are increasingly redirecting visitors to sites that sell porn, dodgy medicine and peddle Nigeria 419 scams.

Cox told the Post: "It should not be difficult for a company with Microsoft's resources to identify and mitigate that abuse in-house without any external input, but so far this has not happened."