[Mimedefang] SPF Usefulness (was Re: SNARE spam detection)

Rob MacGregor rob.macgregor at gmail.com
Wed Jul 29 17:29:16 EDT 2009


On Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 22:07, David F. Skoll<dfs at roaringpenguin.com> wrote:
> Paul Murphy wrote:
>
>> Proper implementation of SPF or a similar system across all mail domains
>> would cut spamming by 99% overnight,
>
> No, it wouldn't.
>
> Spammers would publish SPF records for their throwaway domains.  We
> already see this quite a bit.

And it's been going on for some time - like DKIM, SPF is an
anti-spoofing measure, not an anti-spam measure.  It's never pretended
to be anti-spam despite what people think.

>> and would remove almost all of the risk from phishing mails.
>
> Not really.  SPF applies to envelope senders; people's mail clients
> show the header senders.  So you can have MAIL FROM:<spammer at throwaway.net>
> and From: <servce at intl.paypal.com> with an SPF pass. :-(

Something I'm happy to see that the SPF FAQ covers, even if far too
many people fail to understand it.

-- 
                 Please keep list traffic on the list.

Rob MacGregor
      Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he
        doesn't become a monster.                  Friedrich Nietzsche



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