TMCnews Featured Article

Just days after the news broke that Outlook 2013 would be available as an add-on service through Intermedia (News - Alert), a provider of email hosting solutions, Microsoft (News - Alert) has revealed that it has tightened up security features for the cloud-based platform.

In fact, it was on December 3 that the email hosting provider debuted Outlook 2013, enabling any customer who purchased Outlook through the company to upgrade to Outlook 2013 for free. Some highlights of the latest release include faster connection speeds, screen size adjustability, and touch screen compatibility.

With the new release and partnership with Intermedia, Microsoft expects even more users to take advantage of its Outlook program. To help deter spam sites, phishing e-mails, and increase users privacy, Outlook.com has added EV certificates and the DMARC (domain-based message authentication) standard to increase security.

“Our DMARC implementation helps protect you by making it easier to visually identify mail from senders as legitimate, and helps keep spam and phishing messages from ever reaching your inbox,” said Krish Vitaldevara, Outlook.com’s principal group program manager in a blog post. “If a sender supports DMARC, we put a trusted sender logo next to their email indicating it is legitimate. The effect is cumulative; the more the email sending services that use DMARC, the broader the protection offered against phishing.”

Vitaldevara also discussed the implementation of the Extended Validation Certificate (EV Certificates), explaining that it would provide a secure SSL connection when users are logged into Outlook.com’s email hosting platform.

“EV certificates are deeply vetted by the Certificate Authority, providing significant assurance that you cane view sites that use them. These certificates require a minimum of 2048-bit encryption, which is far more secure than what is commonly used with standard SSL,” Vitaldevara added. “We are proud to be the first major email service to provide this higher level of safety and security. Taken together, these new security measures help prevent attackers from stealing your account information and protect your account from phishing attacks.”

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO Miami 2013, Jan 29- Feb. 1 in Miami, Florida.  Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO (News - Alert). Follow us on Twitter.