
SPF, DKIM and DMARC: Practical Guide to Detecting Email Spoofing and Phishing
The article explains how email authentication mechanisms SPF, DKIM, and DMARC work together to combat spoofed messages that impersonate trusted services. It provides concrete DNS record examples and shows how to interpret Authentication-Results headers in received emails. SPF verifies authorized sending IP addresses but does not check the visible From address. DKIM adds cryptographic signatures to message content and headers, while DMARC ties these checks to the sender domain visible to users and defines handling policies. The guide also covers common configuration errors, forwarding issues, and why successful authentication does not guarantee message safety. It concludes that these protocols must be combined with additional security measures such as attachment scanning and user awareness training.
HabrOct 20, 2026Translated from Russian
