DKIM, DMARC and SPF records stops your email from going to spam/junk folder

Written by a1webdezine on June 9, 2020. Posted in Digital Marketing.

DKIM, DMARC, and SPF are three email authentication methods that help prevent spammers, phishers, and other unauthorized parties from sending emails on behalf of a domain they do not own1. Together, these methods help demonstrate the legitimacy of an email sender, similar to how a business license or a doctor’s medical degree displayed on the wall of an office would demonstrate legitimacy.

SPF (Sender Policy Framework)

SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is a way for a domain to list all the servers they send emails from. SPF records list all the IP addresses of all the servers that are allowed to send emails from the domain1. Mail servers that receive an email message can check it against the SPF record before passing it on to the recipient’s inbox1.

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail)

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) enables domain owners to automatically “sign” emails from their domain. The DKIM “signature” is a digital signature that uses cryptography to mathematically verify that the email came from the domain1. Specifically, DKIM uses public key cryptography: A DKIM record stores the domain’s public key, and mail servers receiving emails from the domain can check this record to obtain the public key1.

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance)

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance) tells a receiving email server what to do given the results after checking SPF and DKIM. A domain’s DMARC policy can be set in a variety of ways — it can instruct mail servers to quarantine emails that fail SPF or DKIM (or both), to reject such emails, or to deliver them1. DMARC policies are stored in DMARC records. A DMARC record can also contain instructions to send reports to domain administrators about which emails are passing and failing these checks1.

There are several common mistakes that people make when setting up DKIM, DMARC, and SPF records. Here are some of them:

Not setting up parked (inactive) domains

Many companies implement DMARC for their active domains but forget to do so for their parked (inactive) domains. This can leave these domains vulnerable to abuse.

Immediately going to a full ‘Reject’ policy:

Some companies start deploying DMARC and immediately go to a full ‘Reject’ policy. This can result in the loss of legitimate emails1. It is recommended to slowly deploy DMARC policies, starting with monitoring traffic and looking for deviations in the reports before gradually changing the policy to ‘Quarantine’ and then ‘Reject’1.

Not working on alignment:

Not working on alignment: Alignment means that the ‘From’ domain matches with the sending domain1. It is a common mistake to change a DMARC policy while DKIM and/or SPF are not fully aligned yet1. This can lead to the loss of legitimate email.

More than 10 lookups in your SPF record:

More than 10 lookups in your SPF record: Having more than 10 lookups in your SPF record is a common mistake when deploying DMARC1. SPF allows up to 10 ‘lookups’ to reduce the load on the email receiver’s side1. If you have more than 10 lookups, you will have to reduce the number of lookups

Not using a DKIM signature:

DKIM is one of the two authentication techniques to make emails DMARC compliant1. Not using a DKIM signature can result in forwarding issues and non-compliance with DMARC1.

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New technologies have been developed

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Surprising test results

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Plans for the future

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