spf-discuss
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Re: I'm just learning about SPF and I have a few qu estions.

2003-12-23 17:16:16
--On Tuesday, December 23, 2003 2:28 PM -0500 Hans Dieter Pearcey <hdp(_at_)icgroup(_dot_)com> wrote:

Some spammers will send to your secondary MX without even trying your
primary MX.  So if you leave them set up as secondary you may still get
stuff that slips through via that route.  But, I think you have some
time  before this will start to make a difference.

It is a *lot* of spammers, and it makes a difference *right now*.

Spammers know that there are setups like this one where the secondary mx
has fewer spam controls and the primary mx trusts the secondary.  We see
spam to our 'secondary' mx every day; it handles nearly zero legitimate
mail.


Right. What I meant to say was that I think it will take a while before enough domains have published SPF info for it to make a noticeable impact in the spam flow (received at your mx, secondary or not).

As soon as SPF starts to make a difference in the spam flow, I expect spammers will alter their behavior and start to forge domains that don't have SPF records. Then the pressure will be on for those domain holders to publish SPF. I don't think we can realistically hope for 100% domain coverage (or even 50% in my opinion). Eventually some sites may start to refuse mail that doesn't come from SPF-protected domains but this is probably a year or 5 away as well.

Yes, we should get started now. It will take a long time to make a difference, but that's even more reason to start now.

I don't think anyone believes SPF will have a dramatic effect within a year, but perhaps I am wrong. What do others think about this?

gregc
--
Greg Connor <gconnor(_at_)nekodojo(_dot_)org>

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