cPanel: An SPF record can help you beat spam

One method that spammers use to try and trick mail servers is to impersonate other domains or email addresses. In this way, someone could send out spam emails to hundreds of people and pretend they are you. A problem of many mail servers and web hosting set ups is that they are not protected against this kind of spoofing. The solution is something built in to cPanel, called SPF records.

An SPF record is like an authenticity seal for an email address on a domain. That is, they identify the servers that are authentic for that domain name. When a server receives an email reportedly from an email address they can download just the header part of an email, look up the SPF record for that domain, and determine if it has come from a legit server. This gives them the opportunity of rejecting the message before the rest of it is received. This allows the rejection of spam by email servers before it is even delivered to your inbox.

An SPF record won’t stop your computer from receiving spam, but it will stop spammers from pretending to be you because their emails won’t be delivered. Most modern email servers do check SPF records if they exist, so this is an effective way of helping to reduce spam. If everyone used spf records on their domains, spammers would have a tougher time sending spam and cluttering up everyone’s inbox with meaningless rubbish.

How do you set up an SPF record in cPanel?

1. Log in to your cPanel

2. In the section “Mail”, click on “Email Authentication”

3. In the section “SPF” click on enable

4. You will see a confirmation Screen. On that screen you can click “Go back”.

And you’re done.

Domain Keys are also useful

If you are looking to block spam, it’s also a good idea to turn on the other option on this screen called “Domain Keys”.