Universities blocked from Hotmail after spam blunder

 

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By Hani Megerisi

Posted on 29 Mar 2010 at 14:44

Microsoft has apologised for a glitch that left several UK universities unable to access Hotmail.

Users in at least seven universities across the UK were unable to access their Hotmail or Outlook Live after firewalls at the institutions blocked some of Hotmail’s IP addresses.

The IPs were listed as spam by the Mail Abuse Prevention System (MAPS) blacklist, used by the affected universities and run by antivirus firm Trend Micro. “We would have detected them sending spam, that’s how you get blocked,” said a spokesman for Trend Micro.

The problem originally surfaced at the universities of Bath and a Manchester, but The Register found that users at Bournemouth, De Montfort, Exeter, Portsmouth and Strathclyde universities all later reported similar problems.

“Microsoft is dedicated to providing the most trusted and protected consumer experience on the web,” the firm said in a statement. “We worked closely with Trend Micro to fix the issue and the service has now been restored for all customers. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience and disruption this may have caused our customers.”

Trend Micro’s spokesman said that Microsoft would have had to prove its servers were not compromised to be removed from the blacklist.