For example, at the time of this writing, Salesforce.com contains 5 include statements in its record: To avoid the error, you can implement a policy where anyone sending bulk email, for example, has to use a subdomain specifically for this purpose. Failing SPF will not cause Office 365 to drop a message, at best it will mark it as Junk, but even that wont happen in all scenarios. In other words, using SPF can improve our E-mail reputation. TechCommunityAPIAdmin. The number of messages that were misidentified as spoofed became negligible for most email paths. If you have a hybrid configuration (some mailboxes in the cloud, and some mailboxes on premises) or if you're an Exchange Online Protection standalone customer, add the outbound IP address of . Recipient mail systems refer to the SPF TXT record to determine whether a message from your custom domain comes from an authorized messaging server. The receiving server may also respond with a non-delivery report (NDR) that contains an error similar to these: Some SPF TXT records for third-party domains direct the receiving server to perform a large number of DNS lookups. Mark the message with 'soft fail' in the message envelope. Typically, email servers are configured to deliver these messages anyway. Below is an example of adding the office 365 SPF along with onprem in your public DNS server. For advanced examples and a more detailed discussion about supported SPF syntax, see How SPF works to prevent spoofing and phishing in Office 365. Include the following domain name: spf.protection.outlook.com. This is used when testing SPF. More info about Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Defender for Office 365 plan 1 and plan 2, Set up SPF in Microsoft 365 to help prevent spoofing, Troubleshooting: Best practices for SPF in Microsoft 365, Example: SPF TXT record for multiple outbound on-premises mail servers and Microsoft 365, Use DKIM to validate outbound email sent from your custom domain in Microsoft 365, Use DMARC to validate email in Microsoft 365, Create DNS records at any DNS hosting provider for Microsoft 365. What does SPF email authentication actually do? ip6 indicates that you're using IP version 6 addresses. Despite that the first association regarding the right response to an event in which the sender uses an E-mail address that includes our organization domain name + the result from the SPF sender verification test is fail, is to block and delete such E-mails; I strongly recommend not doing so. A9: The answer depends on the particular mail server or the mail security gateway that you are using. The element which needs to be responsible for capturing event in which the SPF sender verification test considered as Fail is our mail server or the mail security gateway that we use. On-premises email organizations where you route. If you have a custom domain or are using on-premises Exchange servers along with Microsoft 365, you need to manually set up DMARC for your outbound mail. Indicates soft fail. In this phase, we are only capturing event in which the E-mail address of the sender uses the domain name of our organization, and also; the result from the SPF sender verification test is Fail. If you're the sender's email admin, make sure the SPF records for your domain at your domain registrar are set up correctly. 0 Likes Reply Vs. this scenario, in a situation in which the sender E-mail address includes our domain name, and also the result from the SPF sender verification test is fail, this is a very clear sign of the fact that the particular E-mail message has a very high chance to consider as Spoof mail. This can be one of several values. Instead, the E-mail message will be forwarded to a designated authority, such as IT person, that will get the suspicious E-mail, and this person will need to carefully examine the E-mail and decide if the E-mail is indeed spoofed E-mail or a legitimate E-mail message that mistakenly identified as Spoof mail. Also, if you're using DMARC with p=quarantine or p=reject, then you can use ~all. The only thing that we can do is enable other organizations that receive an email message that has our domain name, the ability to verify if the E-mail is a legitimate E-mail message or not. Scenario 1. In this category, we can put every event in which a legitimate E-mail message includes the value of SPF = Fail. However, there are some cases where you may need to update your SPF TXT record in DNS. Misconception 3: In Office 365 and Exchange Online based environment the SPF protection mechanism is automatically activated. Figure out what enforcement rule you want to use for your SPF TXT record. The enforcement rule is usually one of these options: Hard fail. If you have anti-spoofing enabled and the SPF record: hard fail (MarkAsSpamSpfRecordHardFail) turned on, you will probably get more false positives. The setting is located at Exchange admin Center > protection > spam filter > double click Default > advanced options > set SPF record: hard fail: off . Q6: In case that the information in the E-mail message header includes results of SPF = Fail, does the destination recipient is aware of this fact? This list is known as the SPF record. Also, the original destination recipient will get an E-mail notification, which informs him that a specific E-mail message that was sent to him was identified as Spoof mail and for this reason didnt automatically send to his mailbox. An SPF TXT record is a DNS record that helps prevent spoofing and phishing by verifying the domain name from which email messages are sent. Microsoft believes that the risk of continuing to allow unauthenticated inbound email is higher than the risk of losing legitimate inbound email. To be able to avoid from a false-positive event, meaning an event in which a legitimate E-mail message mistakenly identified as Spoof mail, I prefer more refinement actions such as send the E-mail to approval, send the E-mail to quarantine and so on. ip4: ip6: include:. SPF sender verification test fail | External sender identity. SPF is added as a TXT record that is used by DNS to identify which mail servers can send mail on behalf of your custom domain. When you want to use your own domain name in Office 365 you will need to create an SPF record. Usually, this is the IP address of the outbound mail server for your organization. You need some information to make the record. The SPF Record is structured in such a way that you can easily add or remove mail systems to or from the record. @tsulafirstly, this mostly depends on the spam filtering policy you have configured. The three primary SPF sender verification test results could be: Regarding the result, in which the SPF result is Pass, this is a sign that we can be sure that the mail sender is a legitimate user, and we can trust this sender. Based on your mentioned description about "SPF authentication fails for our outbound emails sent by Exchange Online despite having this DNS record : v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com -all", once could you please provide us your detailed error message screenshot, your SPF record and domain via private message? Keeping track of this number will help prevent messages sent from your organization from triggering a permanent error, called a perm error, from the receiving server. DKIM email authentication's goal is to prove the contents of the mail haven't been tampered with. The decision regarding the question, how to relate to a scenario in which the SPF results define as None and Fail is not so simple. You can identify messages that were filtered by ASF by: The following sections describe the ASF settings and options that are available in anti-spam policies in the Microsoft 365 Defender portal, and in Exchange Online PowerShell or standalone EOP PowerShell (New-HostedContentFilterPolicy and Set-HostedContentFilterPolicy). Text. You do not need to make any changes immediately, but if you receive the "too many lookups" error, modify your SPF TXT record as described in Set up SPF in Microsoft 365 to help prevent spoofing. When it finds an SPF record, it scans the list of authorized addresses for the record. When the receiving messaging server gets a message from joe@contoso.com, the server looks up the SPF TXT record for contoso.com and finds out whether the message is valid. A typical SPF TXT record for Microsoft 365 has the following syntax: v=spf1 is required. For example, 131.107.2.200. You will first need to identify these systems because if you dont include them in the SPF record, mail sent from those systems will be listed as spam. SPF enables receiving mail servers to authenticate whether an email message was sent from an authorized mail server - but only when the domain owner's SPF record is valid. Use one of these for each additional mail system: Common. Your email address will not be published. You will need to create an SPF record for each domain or subdomain that you want to send mail from. ip4 indicates that you're using IP version 4 addresses. You can also specify IP address ranges using CIDR notation, for example ip4:192.168.0.1/26. One drawback of SPF is that it doesn't work when an email has been forwarded. Oct 26th, 2018 at 10:51 AM. It is published as a Domain Name System (DNS) record for that domain in the form of a specially formatted TXT record. Test mode is not available for this setting. To work around this problem, use SPF with other email authentication methods such as DKIM and DMARC. Messages that use JavaScript or Visual Basic Script Edition in HTML are marked as high confidence spam. An SPF record is a DNS entry containing the IP addresses of an organization's official email servers and domains that can send emails on behalf of your business. Instead, ensure that you use TXT records in DNS to publish your SPF information. Scenario 2 the sender uses an E-mail address that includes. A good option could be, implementing the required policy in two phases-. If you have a hybrid configuration (some mailboxes in the cloud, and some mailboxes on premises) or if you're an Exchange Online Protection standalone customer, add the outbound IP address of . However, if you bought Office 365 Germany, part of Microsoft Cloud Germany, you should use the include statement from line 4 instead of line 2. In scenario 1, in which the sender uses the identity of a well-known organization, we can never be sure definitively that the E-mail message is indeed a spoofed E-mail. Secondly, if your user has the sender's address added to their safe senders list, or sender address is in contacts + contacts are trusted, the message would skip spam filtering and be delivered to inbox. For example in Exchange-based environment, we can add an Exchange rule that will identify SPF failed events, and react to this type of event with a particular action such as alert a specially designated recipient or block the E-mail message. If you are a small business, or are unfamiliar with IP addresses or DNS configuration, call your Internet domain registrar (ex. To do this, change include:spf.protection.outlook.com to include:spf.protection.outlook.de. Messages sent from Microsoft 365 to a recipient within Microsoft 365 will always pass SPF. There is no right answer or a definite answer that will instruct us what to do in such scenarios. For detailed information about other syntax options, see SPF TXT record syntax for Office 365. Find out more about the Microsoft MVP Award Program. The SPF sender verification can mark a particular E-mail message with a value to SPF = none or SPF = Fail. What is SPF? The defense action that we will choose to implement in our particular scenario is a process in which E-mail message that identified as Spoof mail, will not be sent to the original destination recipient.. To be able to send mail from Office 365 with your own domain name you will need to have SPF configured. You can use nslookup to view your DNS records, including your SPF TXT record. Its Free. This is because the receiving server cannot validate that the message comes from an authorized messaging server. To be able to react to the SPF events such as SPF = none (a scenario in which the domain doesnt include a dedicated SPF record) or a scene of SPF = Fail (a scene in which the SPF sender verification test failed), we will need to define a written policy that will include our desirable action + configure our mail infrastructure to use this SPF policy.. I always try to make my reviews, articles and how-to's, unbiased, complete and based on my own expierence. Use the 90-day Defender for Office 365 trial at the Microsoft 365 Defender portal trials hub. An SPF record is used to identify which mail servers (or systems) are allowed to send mail on your behalf. The enforcement rule indicates what the receiving mail system should do with mail sent from a server that isnt listed in the SPF record. If an email message causes more than 10 DNS lookups before it's delivered, the receiving mail server will respond with a permanent error, also called a permerror, and cause the message to fail the SPF check. For example: Having trouble with your SPF TXT record? Messages that contain web bugs are marked as high confidence spam. And as usual, the answer is not as straightforward as we think. . Your support helps running this website and I genuinely appreciate it. In each of the above scenarios, the event in which the SPF sender verification test ended with SPF = Fail result is not good. Gather this information: The SPF TXT record for your custom domain, if one exists. Soft fail. The condition part will activate the Exchange rule when the combination of the following two events will occur: In phase 1 (the learning mode), we will execute the following sequence of actions: This phase is implemented after we are familiar with the different scenarios of Spoof mail attacks. To get started, see Use DKIM to validate outbound email sent from your custom domain in Microsoft 365. Destination email systems verify that messages originate from authorized outbound email servers. If a message exceeds the 10 limit, the message fails SPF. This article was written by our team of experienced IT architects, consultants, and engineers. SRS only partially fixes the problem of forwarded email. In this scenario, our mail server accepts a request to deliver an email message to one of our organization recipients. For example, exacttarget.com has created a subdomain that you need to use for your SPF TXT record: When you include third-party domains in your SPF TXT record, you need to confirm with the third-party which domain or subdomain to use in order to avoid running into the 10 lookup limit. If you're not sure that you have the complete list of IP addresses, then you should use the ~all (soft fail) qualifier. Not all phishing is spoofing, and not all spoofed messages will be missed. No. You add an SPF TXT record that lists the Office 365 messaging servers as legitimate mail servers for your domain. v=spf1 ip4:10.10.10.1/16 mx ptr:Sender.domain.com include:spf.protection.outlook.com ~all. Microsoft Office 365. Anti-spoofing protection considers both SPF hard fails and a much wider set of criteria. SPF, together with DKIM and DMARC helps to prevent spoofing of your mail domain. is required for every domain and subdomain to prevent attackers from sending email claiming to be from non-existent subdomains. This tag allows plug-ins or applications to run in an HTML window. Instruct the Exchange Online what to do regarding different SPF events.. Also, if you're only using SPF, that is, you aren't using DMARC or DKIM, you should use the -all qualifier. SPF sender verification check fail | our organization sender identity. SPF is designed to help prevent spoofing, but there are spoofing techniques that SPF can't protect against. Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support. LazyAdmin.nl also participates in affiliate programs with Microsoft, Flexoffers, CJ, and other sites. This improved reputation improves the deliverability of your legitimate mail. What are the possible options for the SPF test results? office 365 mail SPF Fail but still delivered, Re: office 365 mail SPF Fail but still delivered. (Yahoo, AOL, Netscape), and now even Apple. The setting is located at Exchange admin Center > protection > spam filter > double click Default > advanced options > set SPF record: hard fail: off. The meaning of SPF =none is that a particular organization that is using a specific domain name doesnt support SPF or in other words, doesnt enable us to verify the identity of the sender that their E-mail message includes the specific domain name. Messages that hard fail a conditional Sender ID check are marked as spam. Q2: Why does the hostile element use our organizational identity? Indicates neutral. Once you have formed your SPF TXT record, you need to update the record in DNS. The SPF Fail policy article series included the following three articles: Q1: How does the Spoof mail attack is implemented? Some services have other, more strict checks, but few go as far as EOP to block unauthenticated email and treat them as spoofed messages. We will review how to enable the option of SPF record: hard fail at the end of the article. This setting combines an SPF check with a Sender ID check to help protect against message headers that contain forged senders. In order to protect against these, once you have set up SPF, you should also configure DKIM and DMARC for Microsoft 365. You can only create one SPF TXT record for your custom domain. Received-SPF: Fail (protection.outlook.com: domain of mydomain.com does notdesignate 67.220.184.98 as permitted sender) receiver=protection.outlook.com; i check SPF at mxtoolbox and SPF is correctly configured. Implement the SPF Fail policy using a two-phase procedure the learning/inspection phase and the production phase. If you're using IPv6 IP addresses, replace ip4 with ip6 in the examples in this article. When this setting is enabled, any message that hard fails a conditional Sender ID check is marked as spam. Solution: Did you try turning SPF record: hard fail on, on the default SPAM filter? For example, let's say that your custom domain contoso.com uses Office 365. A typical SPF TXT record for Microsoft 365 has the following syntax: text v=spf1 [<ip4>|<ip6>:<IP address>] [include:<domain name>] <enforcement rule> For example: text v=spf1 ip4:192.168..1 ip4:192.168..2 include:spf.protection.outlook.com -all where: v=spf1 is required. The organization publishes an SPF record (implemented as TXT record) that includes information about the IP address of the mail servers, which are authorized to send an E-mail message on behalf of the particular domain name. IP address is the IP address that you want to add to the SPF TXT record. This change should reduce the risk of SharePoint Online notification messages ending up in the Junk Email folder. Edit Default > advanced optioins > Mark as Spam > SPF record: hard fail: Off. If you have anti-spoofing enabled and the SPF record: hard fail ( MarkAsSpamSpfRecordHardFail) turned on, you will probably get more false positives. Can we say that we should automatically block E-mail message which their organization doesnt support the use of SPF? The SPF mechanism doesnt perform and concrete action by himself. In reality, the recipient will rarely access data stored in the E-mail message header, and even if they access the data, they dont have the ability to understand most of the information thats contained within the E-mail header. Note: MailRoute will automatically recognize that you are using Office 365 for your outbound service, so you do not need to enter an outbound mailserver in the MailRoute Control Panel. An SPF record is a list of authorized sending hosts for the domain listed in the return path of an email. We can say that the SPF mechanism is neutral to the results his main responsibility is to execute the SPF sender verification test and to add the results to the E-mail message header. This ASF setting is no longer required. Setting up DMARC for your custom domain includes these steps: Step 1: Identify valid sources of mail for your domain. Learn about who can sign up and trial terms here. For example, in case that we need to Impose a strict security policy, we will not be willing to take the risk, and in such scenario, we will block the E-mail message, send the E-mail to quarantine or forward the E-mail to a designated person that will need to examine the E-mail and decide if he wants to release the E-mail or not. Another distinct advantage of using Exchange Online is the part which enables us to select a very specific response (action), that will suit our needs such as Perpend the E-mail message subject, Send warning E-mail, send the Spoof mail to quarantine, generate the incident report and so on. SPF discourages cybercriminals from spoofing your domain, spam filters will be less likely to blacklist it. office 365 mail SPF Fail but still delivered Hello today i received mail from my organization. Best thing to do is report the message via the Junk add-in and open a support case to have it properly investigated. The E-mail message is a spoofed E-mail message that poses a risk of attacking our organization users. Include the following domain name: spf.protection.outlook.com. Mark the message with 'hard fail' in the message envelope and then follow the receiving server's configured spam policy for this type of message. A hard fail, for example, is going to look like this: v=spf1 ip4 192.xx.xx.xx -all If mail is being sent from another server that's not the IP in the SPF, the receiving server will discard it. With a soft fail, this will get tagged as spam or suspicious. 01:13 AM We are going to start with looking up the DNS records that Microsoft 365 is expecting and then add the correct SPF record to our DNS hosting provider: First, we are going to check the expected SPF record in the Microsoft 365 Admin center. We cannot be sure if the mail infrastructure of the other side support SPF, and if he implements an SPF sender verification test. What is the recommended reaction to such a scenario? Domain administrators publish SPF information in TXT records in DNS. How Does An SPF Record Prevent Spoofing In Office 365? You then define a different SPF TXT record for the subdomain that includes the bulk email. Ensure that you're familiar with the SPF syntax in the following table. Also, if your custom domain does not have an SPF TXT record, some receiving servers may reject the message outright. Solved Microsoft Office 365 Email Anti-Spam. All SPF TXT records end with this value. A7: Technically speaking, each recipient has access to the information that is stored in the E-mail message header and theoretically, we can see the information about the SPF = Fail result. Q8: Who is the element which is responsible for alerting users regarding a scenario in which the result of the SPF sender verification test is Fail? In case we want to get more information about the event or in case we need to deliver the E-mail message to the destination recipient, we will have the option. Step 2: Set up SPF for your domain. The reason for the outcome of SPF = Fail is related to a missing configuration on the sending mail infrastructure., The E-mail address of the sender, uses the domain name of, The result from the SPF sender verification test is , The popular organization users who are being attacked, The various types of Spoofing or Phishing attacks, The E-mail address of the sender includes our domain name (in our specific scenario; the domain name is, The result of the SPF sender verification check is fail (SPF = Fail). Best practices and the latest news on Microsoft FastTrack, The employee experience platform to help people thrive at work, Expand your Azure partner-to-partner network, Bringing IT Pros together through In-Person & Virtual events. Gather the information you need to create Office 365 DNS records, Troubleshooting: Best practices for SPF in Office 365, How SPF works to prevent spoofing and phishing in Office 365, Common. The first one reads the "Received-SPF" line in the header information and if it says "SPF=Fail" it sends the message to quarantine. For information about the domains you'll need to include for Microsoft 365, see External DNS records required for SPF. LazyAdmin.nl is compensated for referring traffic and business to these companies at no expense to you. The reason that I prefer the option of Exchange rule is, that the Exchange rule is a very powerful tool that can be used to define a Tailor-made SPF policy that will suit the specific structure and the needs of the organization. A8: The responsibility of the SPF mechanism is to stamp the E-mail message with the SPF sender verification test results. The Exchange rule includes three main parts: In our specific scenario, we will use the Exchange rule using the following configuration setting-, Phase 1. Go to your messaging server(s) and find out the External IP addresses (needed from all on-premises messaging servers). By rewriting the SMTP MAIL FROM, SRS can ensure that the forwarded message passes SPF at the next destination. This tool checks your complete SPF record is valid. Some bulk mail providers have set up subdomains to use for their customers. Anti-spam message headers includes the syntax and header fields used by Microsoft 365 for SPF checks. You can read a detailed explanation of how SPF works here. In each of these scenarios, if the SPF sender verification test value is Fail the E-mail will mark as spam. A wildcard SPF record (*.) Need help with adding the SPF TXT record? In case the mail server IP address that sends the E-mail on behalf of the sender, doesnt appear as authorized IP address in the SPF record, SPF sender verification test result is Fail. See Report messages and files to Microsoft. This is reserved for testing purposes and is rarely used. If you haven't already done so, form your SPF TXT record by using the syntax from the table. The answer is that as always; we need to avoid being too cautious vs. being too permissive. However, over time, senders adjusted to the requirements. (e.g., domain alignment for SPF); d - send only if DKIM fails; s - send only when SPF fails. If you go over that limit with your include, a-records an more, mxtoolbox will show up an error! I hate spam to, so you can unsubscribe at any time. What happens to the message is determined by the Test mode (TestModeAction) value: The following Increase spam score ASF settings result in an increase in spam score and therefore a higher chance of getting marked as spam with a spam confidence level (SCL) of 5 or 6, which corresponds to a Spam filter verdict and the corresponding action in anti-spam policies. Test mode is not available for the following ASF settings: Microsoft 365 organizations with Exchange Online mailboxes. One of the options that can be activated is an option named SPF record: hard fail. By default, this option is not activated. The interesting thing is that in Exchange-based environment, we can use very powerful Exchange server feature named- Exchange rule, for identifying an event in which the SPF sender verification test result is Fail, and define a response respectively.