How can I safely flatten SPF records while preserving SPF validation?

How can I safely flatten SPF records while preserving SPF validation?

ByBrad Slavin Reading Time: 12 minutes

You can safely flatten SPF records while preserving SPF validation by recursively expanding includes/redirects into explicit ip4/ip6 mechanisms within the 10-lookup budget, scheduling automated re-flattening with atomic DNS updates and monitoring, and combining selective flattening, subdomain delegation, and stable includes to maintain equivalent semantics across major receivers. Flattening SPF is the process of replacing mechanisms…

AutoSPF’s Guide to Configuring SPF & DKIM for Avanan: A Detailed Walk-through

AutoSPF’s Guide to Configuring SPF & DKIM for Avanan: A Detailed Walk-through

ByBrad Slavin Reading Time: 9 minutes

As AutoSPF, my mission is simple: to help you lock down your email infrastructure so your domain only sends legitimate mail, and to make spam, impersonation, and spoofing attacks nearly impossible. In this guide, I’ll walk you through — step by step — how to configure your domain for use with Avanan, using the powerful…

Top Ways To Resolve Too Many SPF Lookups Without Breaking Authentication

Top Ways To Resolve Too Many SPF Lookups Without Breaking Authentication

ByBrad Slavin Reading Time: 13 minutes

The Sender Policy Framework (SPF) is a critical email authentication technology designed to detect and prevent email spoofing—an often exploited mechanism by malicious actors to impersonate legitimate senders like victim.com or corporate ESPs such as Microsoft Office 365 or Gmail. By publishing a carefully constructed SPF record in the Domain Name System (DNS), domain owners…

Mastering SPF Syntax Multiple Include: Tips For Managing Complex Spf Records

Mastering SPF Syntax Multiple Include: Tips For Managing Complex Spf Records

ByBrad Slavin Reading Time: 14 minutes

Sender Policy Framework (SPF) is a critical email authentication protocol designed to prevent email spoofing by specifying which mail servers are authorized to send emails on behalf of a domain. Implemented as a DNS TXT record, an SPF record holds SPF syntax directives that guide receiving mail servers—such as those operated by Microsoft, Google, and…

How are companies across the world losing millions to email spoofing?

How are companies across the world losing millions to email spoofing?

ByBrad Slavin Reading Time: 5 minutes

Companies across the globe are embracing digital transformation, which means that everything from their businesses to operations and communication now happens online.  Speaking of online communication, email has certainly made things easier and seamless, but it has also opened doors for a new wave of cyber threats like email spoofing. In such attacks, cybercriminals forge…

Best Practices for Financial Institutions to Prevent Business Email Compromise

Best Practices for Financial Institutions to Prevent Business Email Compromise

ByBrad Slavin Reading Time: 4 minutes

For quite a few years, malware like ransomware, phishing, Denial-of-Service (DoS/DDoS) attacks, and Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attacks were among the top cyberattacks. But since last year, business email compromise has been the leading cause of financial losses from cybercrime.  BEC, or business email compromise, is a type of social engineering scam. Cybercriminals use this tactic to…

Optimizing SPF for startups using multiple email service providers

Optimizing SPF for startups using multiple email service providers

ByBrad Slavin Reading Time: 6 minutes

The growing technical stack, which includes transactional emails, marketing automation, and sales outreach tools, makes it challenging for startups to manage SPF. Imagine a fast-growing startup where,  While it may look quite an efficient approach on paper, in reality, it will lead to confusion, redundancy, and misconfigurations, which ultimately affect email deliverability and brand reputation….

AI Data Collection at Scale: Why Most Teams Choose Managed Proxy Services Over Servers

AI Data Collection at Scale: Why Most Teams Choose Managed Proxy Services Over Servers

ByBrad Slavin Reading Time: 5 minutes

If you’re building AI systems that rely on large-scale data collection, chances are you’ve hit the proxy dilemma. Do you build and manage your own proxy infrastructure—or outsource it to someone who lives and breathes IP rotation, geotargeting, and CAPTCHA evasion? On paper, rolling your own proxies might seem like a cost-saving win. In reality?…

How do cybercriminals use neglected domains to evade SPF and DMARC protections?

How do cybercriminals use neglected domains to evade SPF and DMARC protections?

ByBrad Slavin Reading Time: 4 minutes

Cybersecurity experts are lately highlighting the degree to which threat actors have gone in abusing security protocols. They are devising newer, sophisticated techniques to bypass the protective layers to spoof sender email addresses to launch targeted malspam campaigns.  On one side, the adoption of SPF, DKIM, and DMARC is on the rise, especially after Google,…

SPF Compression: A Comprehensive Guide to Benefits and Techniques

SPF Compression: A Comprehensive Guide to Benefits and Techniques

ByBrad Slavin Reading Time: 12 minutes

SPF Compression and Its Role in Email SPF compression is more than just a technical buzzword; it’s an essential practice that enhances the functionality of your email authentication strategies. The Sender Policy Framework (SPF) specifies which servers are permitted to send emails on behalf of a domain, using a simple text record that contains relevant…