What is DMARC?
DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) is an email authentication protocol used to protect email senders and recipients against domain-based message phishing and spoofing attacks. It is an extension to the widely used SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) protocols and provides an additional layer of security to email communication.
How Does DMARC Work?
DMARC allows email domain owners to publish policies that specify which authentication methods, SPF and/or DKIM, are used to verify the authenticity of incoming emails originating from their domains. This allows the recipient’s email server to check the domain’s DMARC policy before accepting an email. The DMARC policy instructs the recipient’s email server to either accept, reject, or quarantine an email based on the authentication results and domain policies. This ensures that only legitimate emails are delivered, and any fraudulent emails are rejected or marked as spam. Interested in learning more about the topic? https://www.tangent.com/solutions/security-compliance/dmarc, an external resource we’ve prepared to supplement your reading.
Benefits of Using DMARC
DMARC protects businesses and email users against domain-based phishing attacks that can cause harm to their reputation, financial loss, and data breaches. By using DMARC, businesses can detect and prevent unauthorized use of their domains, which is a common tactic used by cybercriminals for spear-phishing attacks, ransomware, and malware delivery. DMARC also helps businesses to increase their email deliverability rates and reduce their emails’ landing in spam folders, avoiding undue business interruption and potential loss of productivity due to missed emails.
Implementing DMARC
Implementing DMARC requires the domain owner to configure SPF and DKIM protocols first. SPF verifies that a sender’s IP address is authorized to send an email from the domain, while DKIM verifies that the email content and headers have not been altered in transit. Once SPF and DKIM are configured, the domain owner can publish a DMARC policy in their domain’s DNS (Domain Name System) records. The DMARC policy can be set to none, quarantine, or reject, based on the level of security the domain owner wants to enforce. The none policy collects DMARC feedback from receiver’s servers without affecting email delivery, while quarantine and reject policies instruct the email receiver’s server to mark, block, or reject emails that fail DMARC authentication checks.
Conclusion
DMARC provides an additional layer of email authentication and protection against phishing attacks that are increasingly common in the digital world. DMARC is easy to implement, and businesses should consider reviewing and deploying DMARC policies to secure and protect their email communication channels from brand abuse and phishing attacks. Should you desire to discover more about the subject, we’ve got just the thing for you. https://www.tangent.com/solutions/security-compliance/dmarc, check out the external resource filled with additional information and insights.
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