[Mimedefang] SPF

[David F. Skoll]

Steve Campbell wrote:

> If you have the time, could you explain where the problems you mentioned
> occurred - were these incoming messages that failed at your server, mail
> sent to other than your domains that failed due to the ISP being sent
> from,....? I use the word 'failed' as a general term meaning it's  not
> doing what it's suppose to do. Will you not check incoming SPF records
> now, also?

Apparently, an e-mail someone sent from within our network (ie, it
had an SPF "pass") was bounced by a broken server because of SPF.  That
was the final straw.

I will continue to check for SPF "fails", because those are occasionally
useful to block phishing attempts (but even then, not often, because
phishers might use a From: header of service at paypal.com, but an
envelope from of www-data at hacked-box.net which passes SPF.)

By the way, I've had to release at least 5 or 6 valid postings to the
MIMEDefang list that were held because of an SPF fail.  So apparently
I'm not the only one who finds it a hassle to set up outgoing mail
infrastructure in an SPF-compliant way.

Regards,

David.