Learn What an SPF Record is And Why You Need to Use an SPF Checker

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When you send an email, many security measures come into play: SSL / TLS encryption, DKIM, DMARC, SPF record, and many others. What they all have in common is that they try to prevent others from sending mail fraudulently on your behalf and having access to the emails you send, which are understood to be private.

Why so many security measures? Well, emails work in a very similar way to traditional mail: someone sends a shipment through a transportation system and a recipient receives it. However, the electronic and automatic nature of emails versus (for example) a physical letter makes it much easier and cheaper to send massive amounts of emails in a short time and to impersonate someone else for illicit purposes. Come on, they can easily be used to scam people. Nothing you didn’t know.

For this reason, the Internet industry has practically since its inception been fighting against spam with security measures that, among other things, guarantee that an email is sent by whoever says it is sent. And the SPF record for a domain aims to do precisely this: to guarantee the recipient that the mail they receive is from the correct sender. This guarantee is reinforced by the functions provided by the SPF record checker. It is a tool that allows SPF lookup, to be later validated. In other words, the checker allows you to validate your SPF.

Why An SPF Record?

SPF records work exactly the same as any DNS record: when queried, it returns a result.

But this result has a very precise structure, indicating from which servers the mail is authorized to send, and from which it is not.

The operation of this security measure is quite simple. When an email reaches a server, said server compares the IP address from which it has received the shipment with the IPs declared in the SPF record of the domain that appears in the sender of the “wrapper”; If the IP is declared in the registry, it means that the domain is authorizing it to send emails on its behalf.

We can say that:

– SPF records are nothing more than a TXT record with a specific format. It can be checked by an SPF checker. Here’s an example: SPF Record Check – Lookup SPF Records.

– It is designed to ensure that the mail you receive has come from an “authorized” server.

– The comparison of the sender’s IP with the domain’s SPF record must be done by the server that receives the mail; In other words, it is a check that falls on the recipient of the email, not on the origin.

– There are guidelines advised to follow when an IP “passes” the test, and guidelines advised for when it “fails”; But ultimately those are just the suggested guidelines, and the final word on what to do with emails based on the SPF record results depends on the recipient of the email.

Why You Need An SPF Check

SPF check is a diagnostic tool that functions by searching for your SPF record and validating your SPF. The way it works is by finding the SPF record associated with the domain being queried, displaying it, and testing it for any errors that adversely affect email delivery. If you want to have an SPF record check, there are tons of SPF record checker services on the Internet. One of them is DuoCircle. You can check your SPF record on DuoCircle easily.

By checking your SPF record on Duo Circle, you will get your SPF value immediately. If you find your SPF value is low then you should be vigilant because it means your email system is vulnerable to spoofing actions. Your ability to find out SPF record helps you anticipate email-based abuse that could attack you personally or your organization. Want to know more about SPF? You can read this SPF Guide!

Y'berion Pyrokar
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