How DMARC Advances Email Security

While some identity management protocols such as multi-factor authentication have made modern advancements, others – like email authentication – have remained stuck in the 90s. Yet, email remains one of the most common forms of communication for business and personal use. Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance, or DMARC, is an industry standard created to help protect organizations from data breaches and unwanted emails by integrating behavioral attributes into message and domain verification systems.

It adds an extra layer of security to your email communications. By applying behavioral signals to domain name system (DNS) queries, DMARC allows you to detect if visitors to your site have previously visited a phishing site or if they are attempting to access unauthorized information. Email is considered to be one of the most critical communication tools of the Internet as it enables real-time interaction between organizations and their clients. Email marketing automation can help you to send multiple pieces of important information at the same time to more than one group of recipients. This would be useful for creating an ongoing relationship with your audience. The technique relies on the Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) standard for authenticating and encrypting email messages.

What is it?

In the world of cybersecurity, messages like these are sent out on a daily basis. Spam mail, for example, can be seen as nothing more than irritating spam that will surely slow down your delivery time. However, in this article we are going to find out how Google uses DMARC (Distributed Message Authentication Protocol) in order to provide us valuable information regarding our online transactions. Email authentication protects customers from being impersonated by sending them authentic messages from companies they know and trust. Democratic Member States ensures an optimum level of security for all parties involved in sending emails through DMARC. DMARC is also used by many email marketing platforms as a means of automated email marketing campaigns.

A message from a spoofed email address can trick recipients into revealing sensitive information such as password, credit card number, social security number and other details. It can also trick businesses into revealing login credentials for sensitive systems, making it easier for hackers to steal data. The good news is that many providers have started using DMARC for their email encryption, making it harder for spoofed emails to pass through spam filters. The risk of receiving spam emails has decreased significantly in recent years. Spam filtering typically filters out junk emails, but not all emails are spammed. There are still plenty of people who fall for phishing scams, so using DMARC can help reduce the number of emails you receive from unknown sources. You should always inbox check your junk mail folder and look for messages that look like they may be from a verified source.

How DMARC works

A DMARC policy acts as an additional layer of protection for your email messages, so an SMTP server that receives your email can check to see if the message was actually sent by the person who is said to have sent it. There are various ways a message can be validated: through the domain hosting service, through a DNS record, or even by comparing IP/ DNS information. SMTP relies on these three methods to determine if an email message has been sent from a trusted source. However, there may be other ways as well. DMARC is a system for managing domains that implement an SPF and DKIM record for the domain. When sending email from a domain using DMARC, received emails are marked as not from the sender and are returned without comment.

The domain owner may designate up to three senders as Spf/SPF record holders and three recipients as DKIM users. Any message with insufficient records will be rejected by the system. There is a new tool that will help millions of users to safeguard their inboxes against spam and suspicious emails. It was developed by a team from Symantec, DMARC is an automated email filtering system that consists of a network of applications that periodically scans your Inbox for Organizational emails. If the email is deemed suitable for distribution by one of these applications, it is subsequently delivered to the recipient's inbox without any additional effort on the part of the sender. The recipients can then decide whether to accept or reject the email based on criteria defined by the filtering system.

Cybersecurity benefits of DMARC

Implementing a Dmarc policy protects against direct domain spoofing, a common vector for phishing attacks. However, it cannot block all types of phishing, such as cousin domain attacks which use lookalike domains for example or display name abuse. DMARC can also help with:

• Brand protection, by preventing spammers and phishers from using valid organization names
• Increasing deliverability of valid messages
• Visibility, with reports that provide information on unauthorized systems sending email using the organization’s domain

Getting started with DMARC

Organizations should work with their IT security teams to ensure DMARC is properly implemented. This is an important cyber defense practice for preventing phishing and ensuring your organization’s integrity when.

This blog is related to Secure you domains and emails.