TL;DR:
DMARC is an email security protocol that protects your domain from email spoofing and ensures your emails are legitimate. DKIM is a method that adds a digital signature to your emails, allowing recipients to verify they came from you. Without DKIM, some email providers may mark your emails as spam or reject them.
Email security requirements are evolving, and major providers like Google and Yahoo have recently tightened their authentication policies to combat phishing and spam. Businesses that fail to implement DMARC and DKIM properly may see a significant drop in email deliverability. American PCS can help you stay ahead of these changes by configuring DKIM and implementing DMARC, ensuring your emails remain secure and reliably delivered.
In today's digital world, email is a crucial communication tool for businesses of all sizes. From sending important documents to communicating with clients, partners, and employees, email is at the heart of nearly every business operation. However, with the growing prevalence of cyber threats, email security has become more important than ever. One of the most effective ways to protect your business's email communication is through a system called DMARC. In this blog post, we'll dive into how DMARC works, why it’s essential for your business, and how the recent changes regarding email authentication protocols like DKIM could impact your email deliverability. Plus, we’ll show you how American-PCS can help you secure your email communications and protect your business.
What is DMARC?
DMARC stands for Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance. It’s an email authentication protocol that helps protect your domain from unauthorized use, such as email spoofing and phishing attacks. Essentially, DMARC works to ensure that only legitimate emails are sent from your domain.
Here’s a quick breakdown of how it works:
- Authentication: DMARC checks if the email sent from your domain is authenticated using two other protocols, SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail). These protocols ensure that the email is coming from an authorized server and that the content hasn’t been tampered with.
- Policy Enforcement: DMARC allows you to set a policy for how to handle emails that fail authentication checks. You can instruct email receivers to either do nothing, quarantine the email (send it to spam), or reject the email (block it entirely).
- Reporting: DMARC provides you with reports that show how your domain’s emails are being handled by other email servers. This feedback helps you understand if any emails are being marked as suspicious or rejected.
Why is DMARC Important?
DMARC plays a vital role in ensuring the security and integrity of your email communications. Without it, your business is vulnerable to several threats, including:
- Email Spoofing: This is when malicious actors send emails that appear to come from a legitimate source (such as your business). They might do this to trick your customers into revealing sensitive information or clicking on harmful links. With DMARC, you can prevent unauthorized users from sending emails on behalf of your domain, which drastically reduces the risk of email spoofing.
- Phishing Attacks: Phishing is a common cyberattack where attackers attempt to steal personal information by pretending to be a trusted source. If your domain is not protected with DMARC, cybercriminals can easily spoof your email address and send phishing emails to your clients or employees, leading to potential data breaches or financial losses.
- Deliverability Issues: When your domain is not protected by DMARC, your legitimate emails may be flagged as suspicious or even end up in the spam folder. This can cause communication disruptions, reduce trust with clients, and negatively affect your brand reputation.
By implementing DMARC, you can greatly reduce the chances of falling victim to these attacks and ensure that your emails are trusted and delivered to the inbox of your recipients.
What is DKIM and Why Does it Matter?
One of the core components of DMARC is DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail). To understand how DMARC works, it's essential to know what DKIM is and how it fits into the process.
DKIM is an email authentication method that uses cryptographic signatures to verify the authenticity of an email message. When a sender sends an email, DKIM attaches a digital signature to the email’s header. The recipient's email server then checks the signature against the public DKIM key stored in the sender’s domain DNS records. If the signature matches, it proves that the email hasn’t been altered and is indeed from the legitimate sender.
DKIM is essential for two reasons:
- Preventing Email Alteration: DKIM ensures that the content of the email hasn’t been tampered with during transit. If the email is modified in any way after being sent, the DKIM signature will no longer match, and the email will be flagged as suspicious.
- Strengthening Email Authentication: Without DKIM, email spoofing becomes much easier. It’s more difficult for malicious actors to impersonate a trusted domain if the domain is using DKIM.
How Does DMARC and DKIM Affect Email Deliverability?
In recent months, major email security providers like Proofpoint have started (or will soon start) marking emails as spam if the sender does not have DKIM properly configured. This change is a significant step forward in email security, but it also means that businesses who have not properly set up DKIM could see a sharp decline in email deliverability. Here’s why this matters:
- Emails without DKIM configured properly may be rejected or marked as spam. As email security providers crack down on misconfigured emails, legitimate business emails that lack proper DKIM signatures could end up in the spam folder or, in some cases, not be delivered at all. This can cause disruptions in communication, missed opportunities, and damage to your business’s reputation.
- Emails that pass DKIM and DMARC checks have a much higher chance of reaching their intended recipients. With proper authentication, your emails are less likely to be flagged as spam, ensuring that your messages make it to the inbox where they belong.
The New Changes and How They Will Reject Emails
The update we’re referring to is a shift in how email security providers like Proofpoint handle emails that don’t pass authentication checks. As of recent updates, these providers will start rejecting emails that lack proper DKIM configuration. This means that if your domain doesn’t have DKIM properly set up, your emails might never reach your recipients at all.
For businesses, this can be a serious issue. If your emails are being rejected, you might miss out on important communications, which could affect everything from customer service to sales and marketing efforts. Additionally, emails that are not rejected outright but are marked as spam can cause your business to lose credibility, as customers may not trust emails from your domain.
How American-PCS Can Help
At American PCS, we understand the importance of secure email communication for businesses of all sizes. Through our fully managed and co-managed IT partnerships, we provide expert email security solutions for nonprofits, mid-sized, and large businesses. As an APCS partner, you gain access to our expertise in navigating the complexities of DMARC, DKIM, and email deliverability—ensuring your communications remain secure and reliable. Below we break down the process of implementing the necessary DMRAC, DKIM and security measures necessary:
- DKIM Configuration: We’ll ensure that your domain is properly configured with DKIM to prevent your emails from being flagged as spam. This includes setting up the necessary DNS records and cryptographic keys.
- DMARC Implementation: Our team will help you implement DMARC on your domain, ensuring that your emails are authenticated and protected against spoofing and phishing attacks. We’ll also assist in setting up DMARC reporting so you can monitor how your emails are being handled.
- Ongoing Email Security Monitoring: Email security is not a one-time setup; it’s an ongoing process. We’ll continuously monitor your email systems to ensure they stay secure and compliant with the latest standards.
- Consulting and Support: If you have any questions or concerns about email security, our team is here to help. We provide ongoing support and consulting to make sure your email systems are always up to date.
Why Choose American-PCS?
With cyber threats becoming more sophisticated, businesses need reliable IT partners who can help protect them from the risks associated with email communication. At American-PCS, we prioritize security and reliability, and our team of experts is dedicated to helping you implement the best practices to keep your business safe. By partnering with us, you can ensure that your emails are not only secure but also delivered to the inbox where they belong.
Conclusion
In a world where email is essential for business success, email security can’t be overlooked. DMARC, DKIM, and SPF are critical components of a comprehensive email security strategy, helping protect your domain from malicious attacks and ensuring your emails are delivered to your recipients. As email security providers like Proofpoint begin rejecting emails that don’t meet the proper authentication standards, it’s more important than ever to ensure your email systems are correctly configured.
At American-PCS, we offer the expertise and support you need to stay ahead of the curve. Reach out to find out more about our partnership levels so we can help you implement DMARC, configure DKIM, and keep your email communications secure and compliant. If you haven’t yet taken the necessary steps to secure your email systems, now is the time to do so. Reach out to us today to learn how you can become a partner.
