Email security

Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) is an email authentication policy and reporting protocol that:

• complements and unifies the existing validation checks performed by Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM).

• checks the stated origin of inbound emails using a combination of Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM).

• establishes a recipient email response for emails that fail the check.

• requests recipient email services to report email sources and origins.

• provides visibility over potentially illegitimate or fraudulent email.

The Sender Policy Framework (SPF) is an open standard specifying a technical method to prevent sender address forgery. 

An SPF-protected domain is less attractive to spammers and phishers because the forged e-mails are more likely to be caught in spam filters which check the SPF record. Because an SPF-protected domain is less attractive as a spoofed address, it is less likely to be blacklisted by spam filters and so is less disruptive to email traffic.