SPF Action Required by Sept. 25

Bobby Steurer

Did anyone else get this email? If so, can you please give me a TL;DR summary in very plain language? Maybe it's just because my brain is slightly fried this morning, but I'm not really sure what action steps I need to take (I know they're laid out here. I just don't really get it.). Thanks!

Alex Wong

@Bobby Steurer
If you are not the IT/network admin, you will need to forward this to that person in your org that controls the email administration and Domain/DNS admin. They will know what to do.

In a nutshell, they need to login to the Domain/DNS administration platform, and add some entries into the DNS record in order for Blackbaud/RE to send email legitimately as your company.

Bobby Steurer

@Alex Wong Many thanks, Alex.

Mary Cummings

@Bobby Steurer Since we are smaller, I am the IT person and I know how to enter the record but it is not by strong skill and I don't want to make a mistake. I asked BB support if they could give me exactly what needs to be entered in every field and they couldn't. So if anyone else would be willing to do that I would really appreciate it.

Thanks

Faith Murray

@Bobby Steurer, I imagine the exact steps will depend on what type of DNS administration platform you use. You might reach out to someone on a forum/community for your DNS software.

Just to be clear for other users: this change does not just affect you if you use OLX or NXT email marketing. It also affects you if you use automated form receipts or gift batch e-receipts.

Karen Diener

@Faith Murray:

Just to be clear for other users: this change does not just affect you if you use OLX or NXT email marketing. It also affects you if you use automated form receipts or gift batch e-receipts.

@Faith Murray are you saying that this does NOT affect OLX and NXT email sends but DOES effect automated emails? I think the word “also” in the second sentence is throwing me off.

I'm also curious to know where you learned that information, just because I haven't seen it in any Blackbaud communication. But I may have missed it!

Karen

Lee Grisham

@Karen Diener @Faith Murray Was trying to say that it will impact those systems and processes both. It is a change that should be made.

@Mary Cummings Here is what you should enter. “include:outboundmail.blackbaud.net ~all” Make sure there is only one record that looks like the below.

Here is our DNS record:

v=spf1 ip4:X.XX.XXX.XX include:spf.protection.outlook.com include:servers.mcsv.net include:spf.constantcontact.com include:spf.fundraiseup.com a mx include:epbfi.com ~all

We would need to add the “include:outboundmail.blackbaud.net ~all” at the end of that. This will help all emails sent out be more likely to land in an inbox. We have had issues with bounces before, and this should help. It is definitely worth it if you send any emails from a BB platform.

Faith Murray

@Karen Diener, yes, what @Lee Grisham kindly explained. It affects BOTH - email marketing and e-receipts. I just wanted to mention it because one person I know had forgotten about e-receipts, and not everyone uses OLX/NXT marketing features.

I think my brain was fried yesterday, and I wasn't writing clearly!

Karen Diener

@Faith Murray:

@Karen Diener, yes, what @Lee Grisham kindly explained. It affects BOTH - email marketing and e-receipts. I just wanted to mention it because one person I know had forgotten about e-receipts, and not everyone uses OLX/NXT marketing features.

I think my brain was fried yesterday, and I wasn't writing clearly!

No problem!

I hadn't considered the e-receipts so that is helpful to confirm. Our internal person was in agreement too, and I'm wishing Blackbaud would have been more explicit. I think many organizations would glance at the email, think “I don't send emails using Blackbaud” and not make the change.

I'm not sure how many would be using other email functionality but it all makes sense!

Karen

Mary Cummings

@Lee Grisham Thank you!

Stephen Rothstein

@Lee Grisham Has anyone done a complete security risk analysis of having Blackbaud send emails on behalf of their domain? Generally, most organizations wish to avoid being in this situation, but in this case it seems we have few options. I would like to provide to our Executive team a risk analysis that they can compare to the operational gain. Just wondering if anyone else has done the due diligence. Blackbaud's past security vulnerabilities are strong considerations for this position.