Yahoo Mail Adds Authentication, StorageYahoo Mail Adds Authentication, Storage

Yahoo on Monday implemented its own sender authentication scheme, dubbed DomainKeys, for its free Web-based mail service.

DomainKeys is one of several authentication technologies that hope to put a stop to spoofed addresses, which are used by both spammers and phishers to disguise their true identities. Although DomainKeys is Yahoo's homegrown technology, other companies, including Google and American Online, have shown interest in the authentication protocol.

DomainKeys uses cryptographic techniques to verify the identity of the sender, a process invisible to the end user, since it's implemented at the server level.

Like other e-mail authentication under consideration -- such as Microsoft's Sender ID and the long-running Sender Policy Framework (SPF) -- DomainKeys requires both sending and receiving servers to have the technology in place.

Also on Monday, Internet provider EarthLink announced it would begin behind-the-scenes testing of DomainKeys.

"In the coming weeks, we plan to test the DomainKeys authentication solution on our e-mail system and determine how we can best implement this spam-fighting software," said Tripp Cox, EarthLink's chief technology officer.

Yahoo also added new features and upped the for-free storage allowance to match rival Hotmail.

New search functions in the Web mail service let users find messages and attachments, said Yahoo, while a import contacts tool brings in all info from competing services when users switch to Yahoo Mail.

The storage allowance for non-paying members has been increased from 100MB to 250MB, the same amount that Microsoft's Hotmail now offers. Attachments can be as large as 10MB. Yahoo's new storage allotment, however, lags far behind Gmail's 1GB, the still-in-testing service from Google.

Paying users of Yahoo Mail receive 2GB of storage and can send and receive attachments as large as 20MB. Yahoo Mail Plus costs $19.95 per year.