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Top 6 Misconceptions People Have About DMARC

DMARC Email

Many businesses make the mistake of relying on their consumers or staff to detect and report phishing attacks.

This technique, however, is flawed. Around the world, 90% of leading brand domains are targeted by malicious emails. 

The first line of defense against email fraud should be technology that prevents malicious messages before they enter the inbox. That’s exactly what the DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance) standard does.

Many people are confused about what DMARC is and how it prevents domain misuse, impersonation, and fraud. This can lead to major misconceptions about DMARC, how it functions, and why it’s beneficial to you. In that case, how can you be certain your DMARC implementation strategy is correct?

ProDMARC comes to your rescue! To help you understand DMARC better, we’ve compiled this list of the top 6 most common misconceptions people have about DMARC.

What are Common Misconceptions About DMARC?

1. DMARC is the same as a spam filter

This is one of the most common mistakes people make when it comes to DMARC. Incoming email that is sent to your inbox is blocked by spam filters. Suspicious emails can come from anyone’s domain, not just yours. Receiving email servers, on the other hand, are told how to manage outgoing emails sent from your domain by DMARC. Spam filters, such as Microsoft Office 365 ATP, aren’t enough to shield you from such cyberattacks. If your domain is DMARC-enforced and the email fails authentication, the receiving server rejects it.

2. Once you set up DMARC, your email is safe forever

While DMARC is one of the most advanced email authentication protocols available, it isn’t fully self-contained. You should check your DMARC files on a regular basis to ensure that emails from trusted sources are not being rejected. More specifically, you can keep an eye out for unauthorized senders who are exploiting your domain. 

When you see an IP address attempting to spoof your email on a regular basis, you must act quickly to get them blacklisted or taken down.

3. DMARC will reduce my email deliverability

When configuring DMARC, make sure your policy is set to p=none. All of your emails will still be sent, but you will receive DMARC reports indicating whether or not they passed authentication. If you notice that your own emails are failing DMARC during this monitoring time, you may take steps to resolve the issue. Once all your authorized emails are getting validated correctly, you can enforce DMARC with a policy of p=quarantine or p=reject.

4. I don’t need to enforce DMARC (p=none is enough)

DMARC Policy

When you set up DMARC without implementing it (policy of p=none), all emails sent from your domain are delivered, even if they fail DMARC. You’ll receive DMARC reports, but your domain won’t be protected from spoofing attempts. It’s critical to set your policy to p=quarantine or p=reject and implement DMARC after the initial monitoring period.

5. Only big brands need DMARC

Many smaller businesses claim that DMARC security is only needed for the world’s most well-known brands. In fact, cybercriminals can launch a spoofing attack on any business domain. Since many smaller companies lack dedicated cybersecurity teams, attackers find it much easier to target small and medium-sized businesses. Remember, every organization that has a domain name needs DMARC protection!

6. DMARC Reports are easy to read

DMARC Report

Many companies are adopting DMARC and receiving reports in their own email inboxes. The issue is that DMARC files are written in an XML file format, which can be difficult to understand if you aren’t familiar with them. ProDMARC can translate your complicated XML files into easy-to-read reports, but using a dedicated DMARC framework can not only make your setup process much simpler. Using a dedicated DMARC platform can not only make your setup process much easier, but ProDMARC can convert your complex XML files into easy-to-read reports with graphs, charts, and in-depth stats.

Conclusion

ProDMARC is a simple and secure DMARC email protection solution that is designed to address the evolving business needs of companies. By blocking phishing attempts, notifying you about them as soon as possible, and getting those false positives to zero, we provide 100 percent DMARC protection. As a result, the company’s productivity and deliverability will improve. Get Started with top-class cybersecurity solutions for your business at ProGIST.

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How do SPF, DKIM, and DMARC Work Together?

Spam email messages have been a scourge since the Internet’s inception, and they’ve only gotten worse as the number of connected devices and people using the Internet has increased. Despite several efforts to develop anti-spam tools, a significant number of unwanted messages are still sent every day.

Fortunately, it seems like things are changing recently, with the widespread adoption of three relatively new tools: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. Let’s have a quick look at each of these tools and what they achieve.

What are SPF, DKIM, and DMARC?

SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is a DNS text entry that displays a list of servers that are authorized to send mail for a particular domain. Since the owners/administrators are the only ones permitted to add/change the main domain field, the fact that SPF is a DNS entry can also be considered a way to enforce the fact that the list is authoritative for the domain.

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) can be thought of as a way to ensure that the messages’ content is authentic, that is, that it hasn’t been updated since they left the original mail server. The introduction of the traditional public/private key signing protocol adds an extra layer of trustability. 

The domain’s owners add a DNS entry with the public DKIM key, which receivers can use to verify that the message’s DKIM signature is right, while the server will sign the entitled mail messages with the corresponding private key on the sender side.

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) empowers SPF and DKIM by stating a simple policy for each of the aforementioned tools and allowing to set an address to submit information about the mail message statistics gathered by receivers against a particular domain.

How do they work?

All these tools rely heavily on DNS after the setup phase is finished, as explained below:

SPF

The receiving mail server retrieves the HELO message and the sender address upon receipt. The receiving mail server then performs a TXT DNS query against the alleged domain SPF entry. The SPF entry data is then used to validate the sender server. If the search fails, the sender server receives a rejection message.

DKIM

When sending an outgoing message, the domain infrastructure’s last server checks its internal settings to see if the domain used in the “From:” header is in its “signing table.” If the procedure does not end here, a new header named “DKIM-Signature” is applied to the mail message by using the private part of the key on the message content. 

The main content of the message cannot be changed from here on because the DKIM header will no longer fit. Upon receipt, the receiving server will perform a TXT DNS query to retrieve the key used in the DKIM-Signature sector. The DKIM header check result can then be used for deciding if a message is fraudulent or trustworthy.

DMARC

Upon receipt, the receiving mail server checks the DMARC record for any current DMARC policies and/or DKIM checks in the domain used by the SPF.

If either or both of the SPF and DKIM checks pass while remaining consistent with the DMARC policy, the check is considered successful; otherwise, if the DMARC check fails, based on the action published by the DMARC policy, it is marked as failed. If the check fails, based on the action published by the DMARC policy, different actions are taken.

Where Should You Start With Email Authentication?

The first move is to chat with your email support team on how to ensure that your emails are authenticated. 

We strongly advise using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication for your messages, regardless of how you go about it. You’ll be able to acronym like the best of them while maintaining the safety and security of your brand’s reputation.

In Conclusion

ProDMARC assists you in ensuring DMARC implementation with both the company and third-party vendors. ProDMARC, as a product built on a mission to achieve safe and spoofing-free email networks across the entire internet room, allows DMARC reporting, providing volumes and patterns of outbound mails, including phishing campaigns, and yields proof for outbound mails’ reliability in terms of SPF, DKIM, and DMARC compliance. Get Started with top-class cybersecurity solutions for your business at ProgIST. Get in touch with us for the best cybersecurity solutions.

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Why Should Everybody Use DMARC To Prevent Phishing?

Phishing and malware attacks are often carried out via email. According to a May 2016 cyber threat report by an Internet security technology company, the Locky ransomware was solely responsible for a 412 percent rise in malware emails in March compared to February. Although knowledge and preparation are the most universally successful countermeasures, according to a recent report from a popular technology website, even that is extremely difficult. 

A combination of training and technical developments is most likely needed. One of the above concerns the validity of emails. Can you depend on the sender’s address in an email? In most cases, no, but DMARC allows you to do so.

To begin, an email has two sender addresses: 

  1. One is the “envelope” address, which is used as the return address if the email is not sent. The MAIL FROM SMTP comma is used to communicate between MTAs. The “envelope” address, which is used as a return address in the event that the email is not sent. The MAIL FROM SMTP command is used to communicate between MTAs.
  1. The email address that you see in your email app is the address written in the letter itself. It’s communicated in the form of a “From” header.

What is DMARC?

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance) is a free and open technical specification that aligns SPF and DKIM frameworks to authenticate an email. Domain owners, large and small, can combat business email compromise, phishing and spoofing by implementing DMARC. 

With DMARC you can tell the world how to handle the unauthorized use of your email domains by instituting a policy in your DMARC record. 

DMARC Policies

The three DMARC policies are:

p=none

It keeps track of your email traffic. There will be no further action taken.

p=quarantine

Unauthorized emails are routed to the spam folder.

p=reject

The final strategy and the ultimate aim of DMARC implementation. This policy prohibits unauthorized email from ever being delivered.

Why Use DMARC for Email?

Email is involved in more than 90% of all network attacks, and without DMARC, deciding whether an email is real or false can be difficult. By combating phishing, spoofing, CEO fraud, and Business Email Compromise, DMARC helps domain owners protect their domain(s) from unauthorized use.

The operator of an Internet domain will tell the world that “anything I send is easy to recognize using DMARC—feel free to drop fake email that pretends to be me” by always sending DMARC compliant email.

Instead of attempting to screen out malicious emails, why not provide operators with a way to quickly recognize legitimate emails? This is where DMARC shines as an anti-spoofing technology. The promise of DMARC is that it will replace the inherently flawed “filter out evil” email protection model with one that “filters in good.”

Benefits of DMARC

To ensure that your customers can trust your emails

Essentially, you want everyone on the internet to be able to trust your email messages without having to worry about cybercrime or the problems that cyber-attacks might create for your business. To trick their victims into giving up details, cybercriminals are increasingly using well-known brands to send out email blasts with their logo. This is something that a DMARC check can help you stop.

To protect your brand

Another reason to use DMARC is to safeguard your carefully cultivated brand image from irreversible damage. When it comes to building and retaining a strong brand, nothing is more important than confidence, so imagine cybercriminals impersonating you. Email reports would list you as the sender, and the receiver may not be aware that the message is not genuine. DMARC aids in the prevention of spam.

To prevent C-level fraud

Finally, DMARC email provides security against C-Level attacks. These are commonly referred to as ‘Whaling’ and are carried out for the purpose of gaining authority and access within a corporation. Since they are identical in nature, whaling attacks are often confused with phishing attacks. You can use DMARC to influence the deliverability of Whaling attacks and thus add “trust” to your domain.

Conclusion

Previously, protecting an organization from email attacks needed only a protected email gateway with anti-spam services. Today, this isn’t enough, as companies face a slew of cyber-threats. Email authentication is advantageous to businesses who believe their credibility and trust are essential in today’s business world.

ProDMARC is a reliable and practical DMARC email protection solution that has been specifically designed to meet the evolving business needs of organizations. We provide 100 percent DMARC security by blocking phishing attempts, notifying you as soon as possible, and reducing false positives to 0%. As a consequence, the organization’s efficiency and deliverability increase. Contact us for the best cybersecurity solutions.