SPF and DKIM are authentication protocols that are a requirement in any modern email marketing effort. The TXT records for SPF and DKIM reside in the DNS zone file for your sending domains. Without SPF and DKIM authentication, your emails might be rejected because of the lack of one or both authentication protocols. If you are sending email marketing campaigns, SPF and DKIM are critical tools to pass Sender Authentication tests for major ISPs like Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, etc. Many of these platforms require SPF and DKIM records to be present in the domain's DNS zone file before they will accept mail from that domain. If you fail to include them or your records are missing or outdated, two things can happen: The Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM) protocols are both authentication protocols that are a requirement in any modern email marketing effort.
SPF and DKIM are intended to prevent emails from being delivered to spam folders by having the receiver check the reputation of the sending domain. The TXT records for SPF and DKIM reside in the DNS zone file for your sending domains. Without SPF and DKIM authentication, your emails might be rejected because of this lack of authentication. Both SPF and DKIM are authentication protocols that are a requirement in any modern email marketing effort. The TXT records for SPF and DKIM reside in the DNS zone file for your sending domains. Without both protocols, your emails might be rejected because of the lack of authentication.
SPF is a proposed standard designed to combat spam email. In the most simple terms, SPF allows a domain owner to specify which computers they authorize to send mail from that domain. Using this system, if one of the authorized servers is compromised or becomes untrustworthy for some reason, then mis-delivered spam can be easily identified and blocked by a receiving server before it reaches a user's inbox. As a result, SPF helps to reduce both spam and phishing . DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) is a method of verifying that an email claiming to have been sent from a given mail server was actually authorized by that server. DKIM relies on cryptographic authentication with a private key stored on the authoring mail server. If DKIM signing is correctly configured at the mail server, mail received from a properly-configured domain is considered trustworthy by default. SPF is effective only when it is kept up-to-date and accurately matches what is actually implemented at sending and receiving mail servers.
What goes into a SPF record?
- Single IPs, IP ranges, or hostnames can be used. An SPF record should be as narrow as possible for greatest security so only include IPs/domains that are authorized to send emails on behalf of the sending domain.
- Email should not be sent without verified SPF authentication. There are many online tools available for this. The lack of an SPF record will hurt deliverability and will affect inbox placement
Sender Policy Framework (SPF) is a whitelist of the servers that are approved to send emails from a particular domain. Receivers can check SPF records against a list of email servers to verify that the email is from an approved mail server and the email message was not altered during transport. These two extensions allow an organization to reduce the prevalence of forged email by verifying the authenticity of both the sender and contents of a message.
What goes into a DKIM record?
- DKIM uses both public and private DNS keys and both keys are generated by Acoustic.
- Acoustic uses a 1024-bit encryption for its default DKIM keys.
Adding a DKIM record
Email is a core channel for many of our customers and we know that implementing and maintaining a brand reputation across all of your customer audiences is critical. Customers with email sending capabilities often ask what they can do to better protect their brands from abuse and ensure deliverability of their marketing messages. The Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM) protocols were designed to combat the large amounts of email that is maliciously sent in client's names using forged headers and deceptive information in the body of the email.
SPF and DKIM authenticate and verify domain and individual email in an effort to make certain that when a recipient receives an email, they know it is authentic and from who it says it is from. Use of these technologies allows you to send messages that others consider trustworthy or spam-free. These services may also help your e-mail messages reach the inbox rather than the spam or junk mail folder.
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