Adding SPF Record in DNS to Protect Our Email Accounts from Email Spoofing

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Tiempo de lectura: 2 minutos

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SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is an email authentication mechanism that helps prevent identity spoofing and unwanted emails. It allows email servers to verify if an email message sent from a specific domain has been sent from an authorized source.

Here’s how SPF is used:

  1. Configure SPF records: To use SPF, you need to add an SPF record to the domain’s Domain Name System (DNS). This record contains information that specifies which email servers are authorized to send messages on behalf of your domain. You can add this SPF record through your hosting service provider’s control panel or by consulting your DNS provider’s documentation.
  2. Define the SPF policy: In the SPF record, you need to set the SPF policy for your domain. You can specify whether unauthorized email servers should reject messages originating from your domain or simply mark them as suspicious. The policy is defined using a special syntax in the SPF record.
  3. Verify the syntax of the SPF record: It’s important to ensure that the syntax of the SPF record is correct and properly formatted. You can use online tools or command-line commands to verify the validity of the SPF record. This will ensure that email servers can correctly interpret your SPF policy.
  4. Monitor and adjust your SPF configuration: After setting up SPF, it’s important to monitor activity logs and reports to ensure that email messages are being sent correctly and there are no delivery issues. If you experience problems with the delivery of legitimate emails, you may need to adjust your SPF configuration to allow appropriate email servers to send messages on your behalf.

Remember that SPF is just one of the available email authentication mechanisms. You can combine it with other methods such as DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) to further strengthen email authentication and protect your domain against identity spoofing.

It’s recommended to consult the specific documentation of your email or DNS provider for detailed and accurate instructions on how to configure SPF for your domain.

The following SPF record indicates the email authentication policy for the given domain:

v=spf1 ip4=192.0.2.0 ip4=192.0.2.1 include:examplesender.email -all

Let’s analyze each element of the SPF record:

  • “v=spf1” indicates that version 1 of SPF is being used.
  • “ip4=192.0.2.0” specifies that IP address 192.0.2.0 is authorized to send emails on behalf of the domain.
  • “ip4=192.0.2.1” specifies that IP address 192.0.2.1 is also authorized to send emails on behalf of the domain.
  • “include:examplesender.email” indicates that the SPF policy of the “examplesender.email” domain should be included when evaluating email authentication.
  • “-all” sets a “hard fail” SPF policy. This means that any unauthorized email server attempting to send email from the domain will be rejected.

In summary, this SPF record allows servers with IP addresses 192.0.2.0 and 192.0.2.1, as well as authorized servers in the “examplesender.email” domain, to send emails on behalf of the given domain. Any other email server will be rejected.

Remember, it’s important to adjust and customize SPF records according to your specific needs and the email sending policies of your domain.

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