Organizations often send more emails than they think. Could you think about the systems from which your organization sends emails? You will conclude that the number of email streams leaving the organization is considerable.
Some of these flows will be sent through the Flowmailer platform. However, there will also be streams sent from other sources. Think of your email marketing solution, an ERP platform, or an accounting application. The domain reports within Flowmailer allow you to make this email flow transparent. For this, you must start working with DMARC.
But what exactly is DMARC, and what does DMARC solve for you? We explain this in detail and show you the role Flowmailer can play in setting up DMARC.
The importance of DMARC
DMARC is a technique you can use as a sender to prevent phishing on behalf of your domains effectively. DMARC allows the receiving party to verify that a message is authorized by the named sender and has not been altered along the way. Several techniques are involved here:
- SPF: checking the sending mail server by IP address.
- DKIM: reviewing the content of a message based on a cryptographic signature.
- DMARC: comparing SPF and DKIM with the sender's email authorization settings.
Also, DMARC allows you as a sender to indicate that you want to receive reports on the degree of compliance (called alignment) of your various sources from which email is sent.
The domain reports in Flowmailer give you insight into which parties are communicating for your brand and to what extent the sending systems used for this purpose are technically in order. An essential step towards more control over your email communication.
Do all my email flows have to be DMARC compliant before I turn DMARC on?
No, that is certainly not the case. By first creating a DMARC record with a so-called 'none' policy, you ensure that you will receive reports. Email streams that are not compliant are delivered as they were before. So no email is lost by turning on the 'none' policy. The presence of the DMARC record may even be that the company of the DMARC record improves delivery slightly. After all, you show the outside world that you are actively protecting your sending domain. So the purpose of the none policy is "reporting.
Once you create a DMARC record, the DMARC reports come into your Flowmailer account and create a picture of all the sources that mail on behalf of your domain(s). It also reports to what extent DMARC-compliant mail is sent from these sources.
You can quickly get started with domain reports based on DMARC without any consequences or risks for your existing delivery, regardless of the source!
Domain reports become visible in your account as soon as Flowmailer receives DMARC reports. However, this requires that your sending domains are registered within Flowmailer. Once you have set up DKIM authorization for Flowmailer here, the domain report will be displayed.
Domain settings (DNS)
Flowmailer must receive DMARC reports on your domain(s) to populate the domain reports. You can do this by creating the DMARC record suggested by Flowmailer. There is no harm in making this record. There are no consequences for assessing your emails at the receiving end until you decide later to tighten the policy in the DMARC record.
Conclusion
It is essential for all parties involved to make all email communications DMARC compliant as soon as possible. However, this requires an active approach in which existing email flows must also be examined. Many financial institutions and governments in the Netherlands use DMARC on a large scale. Flowmailer offers full support for DMARC-compliant email sending and can be connected to any source system without development costs. We are also happy to help our customers with practical advice and support at all levels.
If it is too early to start a full DMARC implementation, at least it is wise to create a DMARC reporting record. As soon as you have done this, you will be able to gain insight into the parties that send emails to you and the extent to which the sending technique of these parties is in order. It does not oblige you to anything but gives you insight into what is happening.