SPF, which is short for Sender Policy Framework, is an e-mail safety system, that is employed to confirm whether an e-mail message is sent by a certified server. Using SPF protection for a given domain name will prevent the counterfeiting of emails created with the domain. In simple words: enabling this feature for a domain name generates a special record in the Domain Name System (DNS) which contains the IP addresses of the servers which are allowed to send e-mails from mailboxes using the domain. When this record propagates worldwide, it exists on all the DNS servers that route the Internet traffic. Whenever some email message is sent, the first DNS server it uses checks whether it comes from an official server. In the event it does, it is forwarded to the destination address, however when it does not come from a server indexed in the SPF record for the domain, it is discarded. In this way nobody can mask an e-mail address then make it appear as if you are distributing spam messages. This method is also called email spoofing.
SPF Protection in Web Hosting
When you host your domain names in a web hosting account on our end and we handle the email addresses for them, you will be able to enable SPF protection for all of them with a couple of clicks in your Hepsia Control Panel. The service is accessible in its own section where you can see which domains are already secured. For the ones that are not, you can enable the SPF protection solution and configure a number of things at the same time - the hostnames of the mail servers that are allowed to send messages from your emails, the IPv4 and IPv6 addresses of these servers, and even to create a rule that email messages can be sent only if your domain names use our MX records. The last solution is the most secure one, but it can be used in the event that we take care of the emails for your domains and do not use a different email service provider. The new records will propagate within 24 hours and nobody will be able to forge the FROM field in an e-mail by using your email addresses.
SPF Protection in Semi-dedicated Servers
If you have a semi-dedicated server account from our company, you will be able to protect your email addresses by enabling the SPF security service for any domain name in the account with just a few mouse-clicks. This can be done in the Emails section of the Hepsia Control Panel which comes with the semi-dedicated accounts and even if you lack previous experience with these things, you won't have any difficulties to activate the security. All that you will need to do is to find a domain name from a drop-down list and after that type the mail server hostname and IPv4 or IPv6 address. The moment the updated record propagates, messages from your e-mail addresses will be sent worldwide only if they are sent from that particular server. When your email addresses are taken care of by us and not by some third-party provider, you can also benefit from an option for email messages to be sent only when the domain contains our MX records and the aforementioned is the most secure option. If you have any kind of questions regarding thisfunction, you will be able to get in touch with our tech support crew 24/7.