SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is an email authentication protocol that allows email receivers to verify that incoming emails are legitimate and not forged or spoofed. SPF works by enabling a domain owner to specify which email servers are authorized to send emails on behalf of their domain.
This is achieved by creating a DNS TXT record that lists all the authorized email servers for the domain. When an email is received, the receiver’s mail server checks the SPF record of the sender’s domain to make sure that the email was sent from an authorized email server. This helps to reduce spam and protect against phishing attacks.
If the SPF check fails, the receiver’s mail server can mark the email as spam, reject it, or quarantine it, depending on the policy of the receiver. Similarly, if the SPF check succeeds, the receiver’s mail server can allow the email to be delivered to the recipient’s inbox.
In summary, SPF works by allowing domain owners to specify which email servers are authorized to send emails on behalf of their domain, and then enables email receivers to verify the authenticity of incoming emails by checking the SPF records of the sender’s domain.
