Everyone’s received them. Fake emails from what looks like a trusted source. And everyone is becoming more aware of these imposters, but that also means said imposters are becoming smarter.
Have you had complaints from parents or staff members about fake emails? It’s not great. It dilutes your school or college’s reputation and you run the risk of future, genuine correspondence going unnoticed.
With email / digital communications the number one form of communication between a school and college, and its parents, students, and staff, it’s imperative it is protected. If someone received one too many fake emails you’ve potentially lost all trust between them and you going forward and you’re going to struggle to get your messages through in an email.
Your well-crafted newsletters could end up in spam!
If your Domain Name System (DNS) is set up properly, then you can deploy an SPF record which will help to protect your email from spoofing people and ensure your genuine correspondence gets through.
No, we’re not talking about skin care. The Sender Policy Framework (SPF) does act as protection, but it’s digital.
It’s easy enough to set up, just make sure you recruit an IT savvy member of staff to do it.
Make sure you have the following before you start the setup process:
Now you need to make sure your SPF is properly formatted using an online tool or “wizard”. Just Google SPF Wizard and you’ll find an application to do it for you.
Once this is complete, make sure you notify and provide the details to the person or company who hosts your DNS, requesting that they add the SPF record text to the domain as a TXT record. If you manage your DNS, log in to the provider and create the next TXT record yourself.
This simple activity should help protect your communication source, enabling you to send out emails, feel safe in the knowledge it is now harder for your parents, teachers, students, local community, etc, to be spammed and that you remain a trusted and valued part of the community.
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