SPF and SenderID

SPF and SenderID are related standards which make up one of the two primary email authentication technologies in use today (the other being DomainKeys and DomainKeys Identified Mail.) Supported initially by Microsoft, SPF and SenderID allow the sender of an email message to be authenticated in order to prevent phishing, and to allow the sender's reputation to affect email delivery by giving reputable senders easier access to a recipients inbox, and allowing more aggressive spam filtering/blocking for disreputable or unknown senders.

History

From 2002 through 2004, the SPF (originally "Sender Permitted From") concept for authenticating email senders evolved from initial proposals from several programmers until it became the "Sender Policy Framework". In 2004, a working group of the Internet Engineering Task Force ("IETF") combined SPF and Microsoft's "CallerID" email authentication proposal to create what is now known as "SenderID".

In the ensuing years, disputes over intellectual property hampered the deployment of SenderID. Microsoft attempted to assert certain intellectual property rights which discouraged the acceptance of SenderID as an internet standard. There have also been certain technical objections to SenderID. Nonetheless, SenderID has seen meaningful adoption, primarily due to Microsoft's support and adoption of SenderID.

Technology

SPF and Sender ID require that for each internet domain name from which an email will be sent, the internet address (IP address) of each mail server which can send mail on its behalf must be published as part of its DNS records. For example:

• if an email is purportedly coming from newsletter_email_sender@savicom.net, and,
• if the email server which is sending the message is located at IP address 215.39.48.106,

• the DNS records for domain savicom.net must therefore include information identifying IP address 215.39.48.106 as an authorized sender for its domain.

Importance

In addition to Microsoft, other ISPs and webmail providers are adopting SPF and SenderID authentication to verify senders' identity. Increasingly, sender's identity and reputation are being used to affect deliverability, so that the presence of an email authentication technology like SPF/SenderID is becoming more and more important to ensure delivery of email messages and to prevent spam filtering or blocking. In addition to authentication technologies like SPF and Sender ID, it is important to select an email service provider like Savicom which maintains a good reputation and strong relationships with ISPs and web-based email providers.

Support for SPF and Sender ID is provided in all Savicom Products:

• Savicom Pro for Email Newsletters
• Savicom CampaignPlus Email Campaign Management
• Savicom Publisher for Email Publishing
• Savicom DASH Email Delivery Technology (as an "add-on")

See the complete list of Savicom features and capabilities for all of Savicom's solutions.