Sender Policy Framework (anti spam mechanisme)

[alldirections]

I have just received an email from one of my current hosting partners, Intermedia. It is about a new mechanisme to make sure others (spammers) can't send emails in your name. I was wondering if it is possible to configure this using Plesk. It seems that this will be a standard on the internet, so it is important to be at least informed about it.
To configure it we must be able to create an other type of record (TXT) in the DNS server. I don't think this is possible using the control panel.

I put this on the forum becaus I believe that it is an important issue. I hope that somebody at SWSoft will give us an answer soon.

Thank you.

Marcel Wauters


This is the message I have received from Intermedia:
**************************
Due to the fact that a significant majority of spam comes from forged addresses, a new Sender Policy Framework (SPF) standard has been implemented. To comply with the new standard and ensure successful delivery of mail sent by you, Intermedia.NET has created SPF records for each of your domain names. No action is required on your part unless you use third party, non-Intermedia.NET mail servers.

>>> WHAT IS SPF:

SPF is an open standard created with the goal to stop forgery of FROM e-mail addresses and some types of spam as well. SPF helps protect the envelope return path and allows your mail servers to easily distinguish forgeries from real mail.

In simple words: SPF makes it easy for a domain, whether it's an ISP, a business, a school or a vanity domain, to say, "I only send mail from these machines. If any other machine claims that I'm sending mail from there, they're lying."

For more detailed information about SPF records please refer to:
http://spf.pobox.com
**************************

 

[alldirections]

Is nobody interested in this?
Intermedia is a big name in hosting, so if they implement this...

Jaytee?

 

[jaytee]

We will have SPF support (both incoming, via SpamAssassin, and outgoing in DNS TXT records) in the next version, though I personally think that current noise about SPF is mostly PR.

Yes, it will help large mail providers like Hotmail or AOL, because a lot of spammers use their domains as return addresses. That's why you hear a lot of noise about it. Check http://www.ciphertrust.com/spf_stats/:
"CipherTrust’s research finds that a spam message is three times more likely to pass an SPF check than it is to fail it. Therefore, organizations cannot rely on such techniques alone to fight the spam epidemic, but should include e-mail authentication as part of their fraud and spam prevention arsenal. "

We will also consider adding manual editing of TXT records for the next service pack.

 

[alldirections]

Thank you jaytee