Finally, a solution to prevent fraudelent spam from being sent out in your name. If you're sick of spammers using your domain name to send out spam and viruses, then the SPF solution is for you. HOSTICA now activates this on your domain by default for FREE!!!

Ever open up your email to find a complaint from someone who said that you sent them spam but NEVER DID?  Ever receive a bounce back from another host containing spam or viruses that appeared to come from you, but you NEVER ACTUALLY SENT OUT?

 These emails are generated by malicious spammers and virus writers who will try anything to get their emails out, including use a domain they do not have control over. They do this by forging the "from" address in the email. This means the email APPEARS to come from you, but in fact it does not, because it does not get sent through your mail server. 

 So, what's the solution?

 The solution is SPF, short for Sender Policy Framework. SPF will tell the "receiving" mail server which server(s) are allowed to send email from your domain. Typically, you will only have one server which is allowed to send email out in your name. This is defined in your DNS zone file for your domain name (usually the MX record).

 When enabled for your domain, SPF tells other mail servers "Hey, only this server is allowed to send out email from my domain". So, if a spammer/hacker tries to send out email with a forged header using your domain name,  the receiving server will reject the message and the spam/virus will not be delivered*.

*This requires that the receiving server has SPF enabled for their server to check incoming email.  There are two pieces to SPF: For outgoing email, this needs to be enabled for your domain name (which it is for HOSTICA Domains). Then, for incoming email, this needs to be enabled globally on the receiving server.  As more and more hosts adopt SPF, the amout of fraudelent spam and viruses being delivered should be dramatically reduced.

To help in the fight, contact your ISP and tell them to enable SPF. It will help us all.

For more information about SPF, visit the official website here: Sender Policy Framework