{"id":1250,"date":"2017-09-11T16:54:08","date_gmt":"2017-09-11T16:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reseller-hosting-themes.com\/wordpress\/?p=1250"},"modified":"2017-08-24T08:54:39","modified_gmt":"2017-08-24T08:54:39","slug":"spf-protection-stop-spam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reseller-hosting-themes.com\/wordpress\/spf-protection-stop-spam\/","title":{"rendered":"Use SPF protection to stop SPAM from your own domain"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"spfDespite the fact that security is our top priority, so we regularly upgrade the protection of the web hosting platform to keep it up to date, we\u2019ve received reports that some of our users tend to get spam e-mail messages from time to time. What\u2019s even more disturbing, some of these messages appear to have been sent from their own domains, such as a spam message from whatever@domain-name.com received in their inbox and seemingly sent by their domain, john@domain-name.com.<\/p>\n

Below, we will explain how this could happen, regardless of the lack of security glitches and the efficient spam filters that we provide. We\u2019ll also advise you how to use the SPF protection optimally in order to minimize or fully prevent spam.<\/p>\n

How do spammers manage to use your email address domain to send spam?<\/h2>\n

Spammers take advantage of the two basic e-mail exchange imperfections. First, unless you take due measures, the validation of an e-mail sender\u2019s identity is insufficient. It\u2019s not really that strict, so spam often makes it through. Second, whatever the measures, there is no technical way to prevent someone from sending you unwanted messages. Especially if the latter were skillfully disguised to look like they were sent from your own e-mail address.<\/p>\n

How does SPF protection work?<\/h2>\n

In order to minimize the aforementioned fundamental e-mail exchange disadvantages, web hosting providers worldwide take special measures. These include various spam filters and electronic mail validation software.<\/p>\n

To efficiently prevent spam, we use advanced SPF protection and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail). This allows our users to verify whether their incoming messages are authorized or fraudulent at the server level. Thus, most of the spam is stopped before it can even reach your mailbox:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We believe that what we offer you is more efficient than regular spam filters which can be easily deceived. SPF and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) are aimed at the very source of every spam message \u2013 the mail server. They are both a standard on our advanced platform for the past several years.<\/p>\n

Still, there are users which become a subject to persistent spam attacks. This means that they can experience problems even after having enabled SPF validation for all of their inbound emails. Listed below, are the additional measures that we\u2019ve taken in order to stop this. Basically, what you need to do is control your mailboxes more strictly.<\/p>\n

How to use SPF protection efficiently during persistent spam attacks?<\/h2>\n

From today, you will be able to select the level of SPF validation for your inbound e-mail flow. You can do this from the Email area of the Web Hosting Control Panel.<\/p>\n

If you are afraid that you might miss out some valid messages, use the non-strict SPF checking mode.<\/p>\n

The \u2018Non-strict mode\u2019 is available in the Mode drop-down menu when you are creating an SPF instance:<\/p>\n

\"spf<\/p>\n

The brand new \u2018Strict mode\u2019 that we\u2019ve just added can also be activated from the Mode drop-down menu:<\/p>\n

\"spf<\/p>\n

In brief \u2013 our new \u2018Strict mode\u2019 makes it possible for people who are a subject of multiple spam attacks and e-mail forgery to activate super-tight SPF protection for their mailboxes. In technical terms, the basic difference between the strict and the non-strict mode is a single symbol.<\/p>\n

An SPF record also known as \u2018loose\u2019 or \u2018softfail\u2019 looks like this when non-strict mode is used:<\/p>\n

v=spf1 ip4:10.0.0.1\/32 ~all\"<\/pre>\n
Here is the very same record in strict mode:<\/p>\n
v=spf1 ip4:10.0.0.1\/32 -all\"<\/pre>\n
The mere difference between the abovementioned records is the \u2018~\/-\u2019 symbol which is positioned in front of the \u2018all\u2019 parameter. Despite the fact that this may seem like a rather insignificant difference, it actually isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
When using the non-strict mode, which includes the \u2018~\u2019 symbol, all of your inbound e-mail messages sent from a domain which doesn\u2019t match the SPF record will not be rejected. Instead, they will be marked as potential spam. This means that a particular message\u2019s spam score is what will determine whether or not it will show up in your mailbox.<\/p>\n
When using the strict mode with the \u2018-\u2018 symbol, all of your inbound e-mail messages sent from a domain which doesn\u2019t match the SPF validation will be rejected right away.<\/p>\n
SPF protection in strict mode \u2013 an example from practice<\/h2>\n
A good example of how strict SPF verification works in practice is an e-mail message which a customer of ours has received from a source identified as facebookmail.com. Although this seems legit at first look, the message was blocked instantly. The reason was that Facebookmail.com uses strict SPF settings only so that they can prevent anyone from using their domain for e-mail spoofing.<\/p>\n
As recorded in our system:<\/p>\n
2016-03-30 09:57:13 H=mail1485.netcetera.co.uk [81.27.104.205] F=<notification+p1cc6h=e@facebookmail.com> rejected RCPT <mail@XXXXXXXX.co.uk>: [SPF] Sender host (81.27.104.205) is not authorized to send mail from facebookmail.com. Please see https:\/\/www.openspf.org\/Why?id=notification+p1cc6h=e@facebookmail.com& ip=81.27.104.205<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Needless to say, if Facebookmail.com used non-strict SPF protection this spam wouldn\u2019t have been identified and would have achieved its purpose.<\/p>\n
As a result of the recent upgrades to the SPF protection, our platform is safer than ever! More importantly, now you and all your reseller hosting customers can exert tighter control over your e-mail accounts and minimize any kind of spam.<\/p>\n
Do not hesitate to popularize this e-mail safety feature among your customers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
See how you use SPF protection with the Hepsia Control Panel as a way to stop SPAM. See how to stop sending spam to yourself from your own domain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reseller-hosting-themes.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1250"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reseller-hosting-themes.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reseller-hosting-themes.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reseller-hosting-themes.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reseller-hosting-themes.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1250"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/reseller-hosting-themes.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1748,"href":"https:\/\/reseller-hosting-themes.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1250\/revisions\/1748"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reseller-hosting-themes.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reseller-hosting-themes.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reseller-hosting-themes.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reseller-hosting-themes.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}