Implement DMARC in your organization using these Simple Steps

DMARC stands for Domain-Based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance, and it's an industry-recommended and recognized email authentication standard. Since the dawn of the digital era, the internet has been a fertile ground for hackers, impersonators, and threat actors that seek to deceive unwary clients and users by utilizing the corporate domains of small, medium, and big businesses.

This may have a significant impact on a company's credibility and reputation. By giving you the ability to prohibit impersonators from exploiting your domain name, DMARC can protect you from brand misuse and impersonation. As a result, DMARC implementation is critical for an organization's development, reputation, and security. This post will show you how to set up DMARC for your domain, whether it's for work or for personal use.

How EXACTLY will DMARC help my business?

EmailAuth gives companies and organizations control of their email domains via DMARC, which has the following advantages:

• Protects brand reputation Regardless of the size or scope of the company, cybercriminals will attempt to spoof reputed websites and leverage their internet presence for harmful purposes. By keeping the brand name out of an attacker's arsenal of forged email domains, DMARC safeguards the brand's integrity.
• Provides more insight into cyber threats DMARC allows organizations and domain owners to keep track of all authorized and non-authorized third parties who send emails on their behalf, ensuring compliance with security best practices.
• Prevents email spoofing Every company wants to keep its domain safe against spoofing. This is advantageous for internal personnel, but it also stops spammers from using the company's domain to attack or impersonate other organizations. Two tools that can assist with this are SPF and DKIM. DMARC can be established after these two are in place.
• Increases email deliverability Even genuine emails can end up in spam folders or quarantines, which can be problematic if the emails include sensitive medical details or other vital information. DMARC adds an extra layer of assurance that emails sent by a given organization are genuine, thus improving mailbox delivery while also combating spam.
• The “p” tag has three options: None, quarantine, or reject. These instruct the server on what action is to be taken against an email that fails authentication.
• The adkim and aspf options define how strictly DKIM and SPF policy should be applied, with ‘s’ indicating strict and ‘r’ indicating relaxed.
• The RUA tag provides an address for aggregate data reports, whereas the RUF tag provides an address for forensic reports.

Steps to setup DMARC

After you've set up SPF and DKIM, it's time to set up DMARC. You can set up DMARC without first installing SPF and DKIM in a DNS record, but it will have no impact. SPF and DKIM records should be handled by email servers, according to DMARC requirements. The DMARC policy contains a reporting system that helps domain managers to determine if an email is failing authentication or whether an attacker is attempting to spoof a certain domain.

Setting up DMARC is very easy. It is a simple one-line entry in the domain’s DNS records.

1. Log into your domain registrar and select ‘Manage or Configure DNS Settings’ from the drop-down menu.
2. Select a TXT record and hit the ‘Add a New Record’ button.

Refer to the following DMARC record:

v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:reports@emailauth.io; ruf=mailto:reports@emailauth.io; adkim=r; aspf=r; rf=afrf

You’ve successfully set up DMARC for your business. Setting up DMARC in DNS only takes a few minutes. However, to be effective against brand impersonation, DMARC must be set to its highest enforcement level, p=reject.

While this is relatively straightforward when talking about a single domain, it can be complicated and time-consuming for organizations with thousands of domains spanning dozens of email senders and outside email distribution partners. Use EmailAuth’s solutions for all your email authentication needs including SPF, DKIM, BIMI, and DMARC.