So I was hoping to Clarify how SPF and DKIM work together to point the private/public keys that DKIM specifics to a specific server.
I am filling in the blanks that are not explicitly stated from my current research. Please do tell me if I am wrong in this understanding.
Assumption based on docs:
SPF allow you to specify the servers that are allowed to send email on behalf of your DNS. i.e. if your DNS is example.com and you set your SPF to allow server xx.xx.xx, then emails from bob@example.com originating from xx.xx.xx are authenticated.
(this is the part I am trying to workout)
Creating A txt record for your DKIM keys (public/private) only works because the SPF has already stated what servers are going to be sending out emails using your domain name. So the SPF is a prerequisite to using a DKIM?
Thanks for any help on this subject.
W
>Solution :
Yes, that is correct. SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) work together to help protect against email spoofing and phishing.
SPF helps to prevent unauthorized use of your domain name by specifying which servers are authorized to send email from your domain. So, the recipient email server can check if the incoming email is from a server listed in the SPF record.
After the recipient email server confirms the email is from an authorized server, it then uses the DKIM to verify the authenticity of the email content by checking the digital signature included in the email header. The digital signature is created using the private key and the public key is listed in a TXT record in the domain’s DNS.
So, to summarize, SPF is a pre-requisite for using DKIM as it confirms that the email is from an authorized server. And then, the DKIM verifies the authenticity of the email content.