Scam emails have always been a problem, and they can cause plenty of damage to any business affected by them. One common technique is known as ‘email spoofing’. It involves forging a headline to create a message that looks like it might come from a legitimate source. Using email spoofing, a cyber-criminal can set up an email address and then start sending messages that look like they come from your account.
When people receive these messages, they will be more likely to open them and trust them than if the sender seemed completely random.
Enter Sender Policy Framework
Several methods of preventing email spoofing have been developed, and Sender Policy Frameworks, usually shortened to SPF, is one of them. Essentially, an SPF allows a business domain to dictate exactly which servers are allowed to send emails on its behalf. When an email is delivered, the receiving mail server will be able to cross-check it to ensure it originated from a server that has your permission. If the message came from a server that was not on your list, it will either be flagged to raise awareness or get deleted altogether.
Why Should You Use a SPF?
The obvious and important reason to use an SPF is to make it more difficult for spammers to succeed. If they can forge a ‘from’ address, they can reach your clients and employees, something that can erode trust and potentially see you losing business.
In fact, the very act of publishing an SPF record will make you less attractive to spammers and phishers because they know forged emails from your domain are likely to get recognised as malicious when the SPF record is checked. You’ll even look less attractive to other malicious users since they will assume that your other cyber security methods are strong.
As an added plus, the legitimate emails you send are less likely to go to spam folders. An SPF-protected domain isn’t attractive for email spoofing, so it’s less likely to get blacklisted, and having an SPF policy in place is a great way to signal legitimacy to internet service providers.
Hey, I’m Rory and I am the ultimate accidental geek.
Born in London I was never interested in technologies until I started a part-time job at Apple and now I can’t get enough. Join me as a help you navigate the world of tech with some of my fellow geeks.