The Spam Cryer

Postini Delivery Problems Vex Users

(October 13, 14 & 15, 2009)

Users of email security and archiving service Postini were frustrated last week when the service began experiencing significant delivery problems.

Users were particularly angered by Postini’s lack of communication about the problem. Postini was acquired by Google in 2007. Similar to our CudaMail Anti-Spam Service, the service scans emails for malware. The problem seems to have been caused by a combination of a bad email filter update and “a power-related hardware failure.”

• http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=220600859
• http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-10374344-265.html
• http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/15/google_postini_snafu/
• http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9139316/Postini_trouble_stymies_U.S._e_mail_users?taxonomyId=1

[Editor's Note (Pescatore): We used to call the telecommunications infrastructure "the cloud," and we had very high expectations of reliability. We even had required service levels for things like dial tone. Internet-based web services are today's cloud - boy, are they far from achieving dial-tone like reliability.]

- Shaun

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Entry Filed under: Anti-Spam,CudaMail