Ever receive an email that appears to be from your bank or a trusted colleague, but something feels a little off? This is where email spoofing comes in – a deceptive tactic where senders disguise their email address to appear legitimate. SPF (Sender Policy Framework) acts as a crucial line of defense against such attacks, safeguarding your inbox and email security.
SPF operates like a whitelist. Domain owners, like your bank or company, publish an SPF record – a public record that specifies authorized email servers for their domain. When you receive an email, receiving mail servers check the SPF record of the sender's domain. If the email originates from a server listed in the SPF record, it's considered legitimate. Conversely, if the sending server isn't authorized, it raises red flags, potentially marking the email as spam or even rejecting it entirely.
By implementing SPF, you contribute to a safer email ecosystem. It empowers legitimate senders to improve email deliverability by ensuring their emails reach inboxes. More importantly, it helps recipients like yourself identify and avoid spoofing attempts, protecting you from phishing scams and other email-borne threats.
TAG | MEANING |
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v | Required: This mandatory tag specifies the SPF version being used. Currently, only "v=SPF1" is allowed. |
a | This tag allows any server with an IP address matching the A record of the specified hostname to send emails. The allowed value is the domain name for which you want to use the A record (e.g., a:campaigncleaner.com). |
mx | Similar to the "a" tag, this tag permits any server with an IP address matching the MX record of the specified hostname. The allowed value is the domain name for which you want to use the MX record (e.g., mx:campaigncleaner.com) |
ip4 | This tag specifies an allowed IPv4 address or a range of addresses using CIDR notation. The allowed value is either a single IPv4 address (e.g., ip4:192.168.1.1) or an IP address with a forward slash (/) followed by the CIDR subnet mask (e.g., ip4:192.168.0.0/24). |
ip6 | Similar to ip4, this tag defines an authorized IPv6 address or a range using CIDR notation. The allowed value is either a single IPv6 address (e.g., ip6:2001:db8::1) or an IP address with a forward slash (/) followed by the CIDR subnet mask (e.g., ip6:2001:db8::/64). |
ptr | This tag allows mail servers to perform a reverse DNS lookup on the sending server's IP address. If the hostname returned by the reverse lookup matches the specified hostname, the email is considered authorized. The allowed value is the domain name for the reverse DNS lookup (e.g., ptr:campaigncleaner.com). |
includes | This tag allows you to incorporate the SPF record of another domain. This is useful for including subdomains or relying on a third-party email service provider's SPF record. The allowed value is the domain name of the record you want to include (e.g., include:_spf.campaigncleaner.com). |
exists | The exists mechanism in SPF records offers a way to perform conditional checks based on DNS lookups. |
redirect | The "Redirect" mechanism lets a domain hand off its SPF policy to another domain. |
all |
This powerful tag defines how to handle emails from unauthorized sources.
Here are the allowed qualifiers:
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