Your Guide to Email Security and Deliverability
In today's digital age, ensuring your emails reach their intended recipients while protecting your brand from email fraud is more important than ever. With major email providers increasingly requiring certain email authentication protocols, it's time to get familiar with DMARC, SPF, and DKIM. But don't worry – we'll break it down in simple terms.
What is SPF?
SPF, or Sender Policy Framework, is an email validation system designed to prevent spam by verifying the sender's IP address. When you send an email, SPF checks if it comes from an authorized IP address for that domain. Think of it as a security guard at the entrance of your domain, only allowing in those who are supposed to be there.
What is DKIM?
DKIM, or DomainKeys Identified Mail, adds a digital signature to your emails. This signature is like a wax seal on a letter, proving that the email hasn't been tampered with during transit and that it truly comes from the sender's domain. It assures recipients that the email is genuine and trustworthy.
What is DMARC?
DMARC, or Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance, is a policy that helps protect your email domain from being used for email spoofing, phishing scams, and other cybercrimes. It builds on two existing mechanisms – SPF and DKIM – to ensure that incoming messages are from legitimate sources.
DMARC Reports: Monitoring for Better Security
One key feature of DMARC is the ability to generate reports that provide insight into your domain’s outbound email traffic. These reports show which emails are passing and failing SPF and DKIM checks, helping you understand how your domain is being used.
Why Should You Monitor DMARC Reports?
Identify Unauthorized Use: Detect and stop phishing attempts and unauthorized email use.
Improve Deliverability: Adjust your policies to ensure legitimate emails are not mistakenly marked as spam.
Optimize Security Settings: Fine-tune your SPF and DKIM configurations based on the data from the reports.
By regularly reviewing DMARC reports, you can maintain a strong security posture and ensure that your emails continue to reach their intended recipients.
How Do They Work Together?
SPF verifies the sender's IP address.
DKIM ensures the email content hasn't been altered and is from a legitimate source.
DMARC ties it all together, instructing receiving email providers on what to do if an email fails SPF or DKIM checks.
Why is This Important?
Email Deliverability: Ensuring your emails reach the inbox rather than the spam folder.
Email Security: Protecting your brand from being used in phishing scams and other fraudulent activities.
Reputation Management: Maintaining the trust of your customers and partners by preventing unauthorized use of your domain.
The Growing Importance of DMARC
Starting this year, all major email providers will require DMARC records. This means if you don't have DMARC set up, your emails might not be delivered at all. Implementing DMARC, SPF, and DKIM is no longer optional – it's a necessity for maintaining effective communication and protecting your brand.
Steps to Implement DMARC, SPF, and DKIM
Set Up SPF: Publish an SPF record in your DNS settings that lists the IP addresses authorized to send emails on behalf of your domain.
Configure DKIM: Enable DKIM signing in your email server, which involves generating a public/private key pair and publishing the public key in your DNS.
Implement DMARC: Create a DMARC policy that specifies how you want email providers to handle messages that fail SPF or DKIM checks.
Monitor DMARC Reports: Regularly review DMARC reports to identify and address any issues.
How 2Fifteen Tech Can Help
This can be complicated, but understanding and implementing DMARC, SPF, and DKIM is crucial for ensuring your emails are delivered securely and efficiently. 2Fifteen Tech can help you understand and implement these settings to ensure you and your business are not impacted by the security changes email providers are making to ensure better email security.
Contact us to learn more about how 2Fifteen Tech can help you, and about our optional managed DMARC product that puts all of this on autopilot for your business.
Curious about your domain? Try our email domain scanner to see if there are possible issues with how your domain is currently configured.
