SPF Wizard
What is SPF?
The letters SPF
stand for Sender Policy Framework. The basic question that SPF is trying to answer is:
Where does legitimate email using your domain name originate?
Think about SPF as the opposite of MX (Mail Exchange) records that tell the rest of the world where email for your domain should go. SPF is all about telling the rest of the world what servers are permitted to send mail using your domain name. Normally there is one IPAD-OS mail server that handles both inbound and outbound email. This is the kind of email system this wizard is designed for.
The Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP) has a problem. Any connecting email client can use any sender address, even your email address. This has already been exploited by spammers and virus writers to forge mail. The result is that your mailbox fills up with bounces to messages that you didn't send.
SPF can help limit this because:
- SPF fights email address forgery using YOUR domain name and
- makes it easier to identify spams, worms, and viruses claiming to be from YOUR domain
- when domain owners (you) designate sending mail servers in DNS, so that
- SMTP receivers can distinguish YOUR legitimate mail from spam masquerading as you
- by verifying the envelope sender address against the client (source) IP address
- before any message data is transmitted.
Do you want to find out more?