If you have a domain name and you want to protect your brand then publishing an SPF record is an important step.

SPF: Sender Policy Framework is a method of veryfying that the system sending an email is permitted to do so. Full details can be found on the OpenSPF website.

With todays tecnology it is possible for someone to send you an email and, at first glance, make it appear as though it has come from someone else. This is common in phishing attacks (emails that pretend to be from your bank and ask for your account information). What they are doing is forging the email to make it look as though it has come from an address such as customersupport@yourbank.com. This is also common with companies such as PayPal and Ebay.

With SPF it is possible for the receiving server to check that the mail is being sent by an approved system and attempt, in some way, to combat this email forgery.

For SPF to work the sending domain needs to publish a valid SPF record via its DNS zone files and the receiving server needs to check that the SPF record is valid.

In simple terms by publishing an SPF record a company / user can help pretect their domain from being forged by a third party and by checking incoming mail with SPF they can validate the return-path is correct. (Note: Publishing an SPF record still may not eliminate this completely).

By publising a valid SPF record you are also providing useful information to other systems about how your mail is sent and providing a better chance of the mail being correctly delivered.

Customers using AGUK Windows Hosting or Email Services already benefit from incoming mail SPF checking. We also publish basic SPF records for all domains under our control.

If you are an AGUK customer and you send mail ONLY through AGUK then you can further tighten your SPF records by following Q10103

If you are not an AGUK customer and want advice on protecting your email and domain with SPF then please feel free to contact us