{"id":390,"date":"2012-03-07T23:06:44","date_gmt":"2012-03-07T15:06:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.brainfart.sg\/?p=390"},"modified":"2012-07-31T17:59:51","modified_gmt":"2012-07-31T09:59:51","slug":"email-sender-authentication","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brainfart.sg\/index.php\/2012\/03\/email-sender-authentication\/","title":{"rendered":"Email Sender Authentication"},"content":{"rendered":"

Came across a very interesting service today while trying to setup Sender Policy Framework (SPF) for my work email domain.<\/p>\n

Port25 Solutions<\/a>*, an email infrastructure software provider, has a service<\/a> that helps check the sender authenticity of your email service (ie, the SPF settings, DomainKeys, etc) and also the spam rating of your email according to SpamAssassin’s settings.<\/p>\n

Basically, it works by sending an email to this address:
\ncheck-auth@verifier.port25.com<\/a>
\nThe content of the email can be empty, or if you want to test your marketing email or newsletter for “spamminess” against a SpamAssassin filter, you can include it as the email subject and content.<\/p>\n

After sending the email, the service will reply with a report detailing your authentication settings and the spam rating of the email that you have sent.<\/p>\n

The is a truncated report of my domain before implementing SPF:<\/p>\n

\r\nThis message is an automatic response from Port25's authentication verifier\r\nservice at verifier.port25.com.  The service allows email senders to perform\r\na simple check of various sender authentication mechanisms.  It is provided\r\nfree of charge, in the hope that it is useful to the email community.  While\r\nit is not officially supported, we welcome any feedback you may have at\r\n<<a href="mailto:verifier-feedback@port25.com">verifier-feedback@port25.com<\/a>>.\r\n\r\nThank you for using the verifier,\r\n\r\nThe Port25 Solutions, Inc. team\r\n\r\n==========================================================\r\nSummary of Results\r\n==========================================================\r\nSPF check:          neutral\r\nDomainKeys check:   neutral\r\nDKIM check:         neutral\r\nSender-ID check:    neutral\r\nSpamAssassin check: ham\r\n\r\n==========================================================\r\nDetails:\r\n==========================================================\r\n\r\nHELO hostname:  mail.brainfart.sg\r\nSource IP:      209.141.57.235\r\nmail-from:      <a href="mailto:email@brainfart.sg">email@brainfart.sg<\/a>\r\n\r\n----------------------------------------------------------\r\nSPF check details:\r\n----------------------------------------------------------\r\nResult:         neutral (SPF-Result: None)\r\nID(s) verified: <a href="mailto:smtp.mailfrom=email@brainfart.sg">smtp.mailfrom=email@brainfart.sg<\/a>\r\nDNS record(s):\r\n    brainfart.sg. SPF (no records)\r\n    brainfart.sg. TXT (no records)\r\n\r\n----------------------------------------------------------\r\nDomainKeys check details:\r\n----------------------------------------------------------\r\nResult:         neutral (message not signed)\r\nID(s) verified: <a href="mailto:header.From=email@brainfart.sg">header.From=email@brainfart.sg<\/a>\r\nDNS record(s):\r\n\r\n----------------------------------------------------------\r\nDKIM check details:\r\n----------------------------------------------------------\r\nResult:         neutral (message not signed)\r\nID(s) verified:\r\n\r\nNOTE: DKIM checking has been performed based on the latest DKIM specs\r\n(RFC 4871 or draft-ietf-dkim-base-10) and verification may fail for\r\nolder versions.  If you are using Port25's PowerMTA, you need to use\r\nversion 3.2r11 or later to get a compatible version of DKIM.\r\n\r\n----------------------------------------------------------\r\nSender-ID check details:\r\n----------------------------------------------------------\r\nResult:         neutral (SPF-Result: None)\r\nID(s) verified: <a href="mailto:header.From=email@brainfart.sg">header.From=email@brainfart.sg<\/a>\r\nDNS record(s):\r\n    brainfart.sg. SPF (no records)\r\n    brainfart.sg. TXT (no records)\r\n\r\n----------------------------------------------------------\r\nSpamAssassin check details:\r\n----------------------------------------------------------\r\nSpamAssassin v3.3.1 (2010-03-16)\r\n\r\nResult:         ham  (-0.0 points, 5.0 required)\r\n\r\n pts rule name              description\r\n---- ---------------------- --------------------------------------------------\r\n-0.0 T_RP_MATCHES_RCVD      Envelope sender domain matches handover relay\r\n                            domain\r\n-0.0 BAYES_40               BODY: Bayes spam probability is 20 to 40%\r\n                            [score: 0.3966]\r\n 0.0 HTML_MESSAGE           BODY: HTML included in message\r\n<\/pre>\n
And this is after implementing SPF:<\/p>\n
\r\n<pre>This message is an automatic response from Port25's authentication verifier\r\nservice at verifier.port25.com.  The service allows email senders to perform\r\na simple check of various sender authentication mechanisms.  It is provided\r\nfree of charge, in the hope that it is useful to the email community.  While\r\nit is not officially supported, we welcome any feedback you may have at\r\n<<a href="mailto:verifier-feedback@port25.com">verifier-feedback@port25.com<\/a>>.\r\n\r\nThank you for using the verifier,\r\n\r\nThe Port25 Solutions, Inc. team\r\n\r\n==========================================================\r\nSummary of Results\r\n==========================================================\r\nSPF check:          pass\r\nDomainKeys check:   neutral\r\nDKIM check:         neutral\r\nSender-ID check:    pass\r\nSpamAssassin check: ham\r\n\r\n==========================================================\r\nDetails:\r\n==========================================================\r\n\r\nHELO hostname:  mail.brainfart.sg\r\nSource IP:      209.141.57.235\r\nmail-from:      <a href="mailto:email@brainfart.sg">email@brainfart.sg<\/a>\r\n\r\n----------------------------------------------------------\r\nSPF check details:\r\n----------------------------------------------------------\r\nResult:         pass\r\nID(s) verified: <a href="mailto:smtp.mailfrom=email@brainfart.sg">smtp.mailfrom=email@brainfart.sg<\/a>\r\nDNS record(s):\r\n    brainfart.sg. SPF (no records)\r\n    brainfart.sg. 86400 IN TXT "v=spf1 mx -all"\r\n    brainfart.sg. 86400 IN MX 10 mail.brainfart.sg.\r\n    mail.brainfart.sg. 85429 IN A 209.141.57.235\r\n\r\n----------------------------------------------------------\r\nDomainKeys check details:\r\n----------------------------------------------------------\r\nResult:         neutral (message not signed)\r\nID(s) verified: <a href="mailto:header.From=email@brainfart.sg">header.From=email@brainfart.sg<\/a>\r\nDNS record(s):\r\n\r\n----------------------------------------------------------\r\nDKIM check details:\r\n----------------------------------------------------------\r\nResult:         neutral (message not signed)\r\nID(s) verified:\r\n\r\nNOTE: DKIM checking has been performed based on the latest DKIM specs\r\n(RFC 4871 or draft-ietf-dkim-base-10) and verification may fail for\r\nolder versions.  If you are using Port25's PowerMTA, you need to use\r\nversion 3.2r11 or later to get a compatible version of DKIM.\r\n\r\n----------------------------------------------------------\r\nSender-ID check details:\r\n----------------------------------------------------------\r\nResult:         pass\r\nID(s) verified: <a href="mailto:header.From=email@brainfart.sg">header.From=email@brainfart.sg<\/a>\r\nDNS record(s):\r\n    brainfart.sg. SPF (no records)\r\n    brainfart.sg. 86400 IN TXT "v=spf1 mx -all"\r\n    brainfart.sg. 86400 IN MX 10 mail.brainfart.sg.\r\n    mail.brainfart.sg. 85429 IN A 209.141.57.235\r\n\r\n----------------------------------------------------------\r\nSpamAssassin check details:\r\n----------------------------------------------------------\r\nSpamAssassin v3.3.1 (2010-03-16)\r\n\r\nResult:         ham  (-1.9 points, 5.0 required)\r\n\r\n pts rule name              description\r\n---- ---------------------- --------------------------------------------------\r\n-0.0 T_RP_MATCHES_RCVD      Envelope sender domain matches handover relay\r\n                            domain\r\n-1.9 BAYES_00               BODY: Bayes spam probability is 0 to 1%\r\n                            [score: 0.0000]\r\n 0.0 HTML_MESSAGE           BODY: HTML included in message\r\n<\/pre>\n
Pretty nifty eh?<\/p>\n
And there is another use for this service that I can foresee, testing end-to-end email connectivity.
\nAfter setting up a new email server, you can use this automated service for mail flow testing, sending and receiving of email. And at the same time test your SPF settings.
\nCool, ain’t it!<\/p>\n
*Note: I am in no way affiliated with Port25 Solutions, I just found this service useful and thought I should share it<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Came across a very interesting service today while trying to setup Sender Policy Framework (SPF) for my work email domain. Port25 Solutions*, an email infrastructure software provider, has a service that helps check the sender authenticity of your email service… Continue Reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[32,63,65,66],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1T66h-6i","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brainfart.sg\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brainfart.sg\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brainfart.sg\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brainfart.sg\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brainfart.sg\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.brainfart.sg\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":410,"href":"https:\/\/www.brainfart.sg\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390\/revisions\/410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brainfart.sg\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brainfart.sg\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brainfart.sg\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}