What does SPF primarily verify?

What does SPF primarily verify?

• A. Verifies SPF records for domain senders
• B. Publishes SPF data in DNS
• C. Verifies email by DNS query to determine allowed sending IPs
• D. Maps domain to IP

Answer: (C)

SPF primarily verifies whether the sending host is authorized by the domain’s policy. It does this by performing a DNS query for the sender’s domain to retrieve the SPF record, which lists the IP addresses or ranges permitted to send mail for that domain. The receiving server then compares the actual sending IP with those authorized addresses; if it matches, the SPF check passes, indicating the mail is authorized for that domain. This is different from simply publishing an SPF record or mapping a domain to an IP, which are not the verification action itself.

SPF primarily verifies whether the sending host is authorized by the domain’s policy. It does this by performing a DNS query for the sender’s domain to retrieve the SPF record, which lists the IP addresses or ranges permitted to send mail for that domain. The receiving server then compares the actual sending IP with those authorized addresses; if it matches, the SPF check passes, indicating the mail is authorized for that domain. This is different from simply publishing an SPF record or mapping a domain to an IP, which are not the verification action itself.