Are you concerned that your business domain is vulnerable to phishing scams or spoofing? Many businesses make the mistake of operating under the illusion that no one would bother misusing their email address for their malicious intent. What they do not know is that hackers are always on the lookout for domain addresses that are vulnerable to external scams and attacks, which brings us to the pertinent question of why use an email authentication tool like DMARC.
Why is DMARC important
In the absence of a strong email authentication protocol, a business assumes the risk of having its brand name impersonated and its email used for malicious activities like a data breach, forgery of invoices, black market sales or identity impersonation. If a business falls victim to such an attack, it risks losing its reputation and its customer base and suffering financial implications.
In such an instance, DMARC can prove to be an extremely useful tool for businesses as it may help them protect their domain name. Let’s understand WHAT IS DMARC and how does it work.
Understanding how DMARC works
In simple terms, DMARC is an email authentication protocol that protects the email channel of a business by protecting its domain. In the absence of such a protocol business faces the risk of hackers using its email channel to impersonate its brand and send out messages to its customers or employees from what appears to be the business's email address.
Emails that DMARC vets are usually channeling through the existing email verifying protocols, including SPF (for senders) and DKIM (for receivers). Sometimes an email may pass the SPF and DKIM alignment but fails the DMARC check depending on the domain owner’s policy.
To deploy DMARC, the domain owner publishes DMARC Record to the DNS and conveys a set of instructions to all the major ISPs while informing them that the domain is configured for verification through DMARC.
Here is what can happen to the email channeled through a DMARC enabled domain. It is allowed in the inbox as it is or sometimes comes with a warning. As a second option, the email may be sent to the spam folder, and the recipient can examine its content and decide whether to send it to the inbox or the trash. Thirdly, which is also the main purpose of DMARC, the email is rejected right away if it fails the DMARC authentication test.
So, if you want to prevent your email from being compromised and safe from spoofing or phishing scams, you must deploy a reliable email authentication protocol like DMARC.
