Today in Term of the Week, we explore SPF. Find out how it can help you become unattractive to spammers, discouraging them from creating fake email addresses associated with your company.
SPF stands for Sender Policy Framework and is a system designed to establish exactly which IP addresses are allowed to send email on behalf of a domain. These IP addresses are stored in a special DNS record so mail servers can retrieve it and verify the identity of the sender.
When is it useful?
If you employ an ESP to send emails on your behalf they will ask for this as it will show mail servers that they are authorised to represent you. All you need to do is ask your domain administrators to add your ESP’s IP address to the DNS record.
If you’re a big retail brand like Apple or eBay, or a financial institution, like a bank, you’re very likely to be a target for spammers and phishers. Therefore, having SPF in place is a must. If spammers try to create a fake email address with @apple.com or @ebay.co.uk, their email will be caught by spam filters before it reaches the inbox. And your reputation and deliverability will be protected.