Solution: Sender Policy Framework [LWN.net]

Solution: Sender Policy Framework

Posted May 6, 2004 12:07 UTC (Thu) by hingo (guest, #14792)
In reply to: Solution: Sender Policy Framework by copsewood
Parent article: 82% of email is spam

One thing I've always wondered about SPF is this. When more people start using it, isn't it then just as easy for the spammers to make their worms such, that they check the DNS record to learn what SMTP server they should use and then send their mail through that server. The server has no chance to realise that it is not the user of the computer sending normal email.

Of course, if we have SPF, then we could start adding other things to SMTP, like the server requiring a password before accepting mail. In combination these kinds of techniques might do it.

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Solution: Sender Policy Framework

Posted May 6, 2004 16:28 UTC (Thu) by Ross (subscriber, #4065) [Link]

Maybe. It depends on what type of authentication the server requires.
Assuming the worst case, no authentication, it would still be an
inprovement because the messages would really be from the domain they
appear to be from. This makes it easier to contact admins, implement
filters, etc.