{"id":1549,"date":"2021-05-20T08:44:06","date_gmt":"2021-05-20T05:44:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/?p=1549"},"modified":"2022-03-09T17:50:06","modified_gmt":"2022-03-09T15:50:06","slug":"what-is-an-spf-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/what-is-an-spf-record\/","title":{"rendered":"What is an SPF Record?"},"content":{"rendered":"

People send <\/span>over 300 billion emails<\/b><\/a> worldwide daily. For security-conscious users, the Sender Policy Framework (SPF) helps authenticate their emails as they travel across the internet toward recipients\u2019 inboxes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here,<\/span> we\u2019ll examine what an SPF record<\/b> is, why you need it, and how to set it up in quick, simple steps.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get to it.<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s SPF Record?<\/b><\/h2>\n

An SPF record is a DNS record that indicates to mail exchanges the authorized host to send mails for a domain. It detects forged sender addresses during email delivery, thus helping to authenticate emails.<\/span><\/p>\n

The framework allows the receiving mail server to check during mail deliveries <\/b>that a mail claiming to come from a specific domain is coming from there. It reads the DNS records for the list of authorized sending hosts and IP addresses.<\/span><\/p>\n

SPF works better with DMARC to detect forged sender addresses and authenticate sent emails.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s quickly examine how the Sender Policy Framework works.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How Simple Policy Framework Work<\/b><\/h2>\n

Simple Message Transfer Protocol is an outgoing email protocol that defines how to send emails through email clients.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It permits any computer to send emails from any source address. Spammers often exploit this to forge sender addresses, making it difficult to trace the message\u2019s source and the spammers\u2019 identities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Internet domain owners use SPF information in <\/span>DNS TXT records <\/b>to specify which computer or IP address they authorized to send mails with envelope-from addresses in that domain.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, when a user sends an email that claims to come from that domain, the receiving mail server verifies the domain administrator authorized <\/span>the <\/b>IP address<\/b><\/a> in TXT records to send emails before delivering the message to the recipient.<\/b><\/p>\n

The verifying receiver rejects messages from unauthorized sources.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why You Need an SPF Record<\/b><\/h2>\n

Implementing SPF records for your domain comes with huge benefits. <\/span>Let\u2019s quickly look at some of them.<\/span><\/p>\n