How to Publish a DMARC Record in 3 Steps?
To publish a DMARC record and start authenticating your emails, you need to create a TXT record and publish it on your DNS. By setting up a DMARC record you empower domain owners to instruct receivers how they should respond to emails sent from unauthorized or illegitimate sources.
DMARC Record Explained
The DMARC record contains information such as the domain’s policy for handling failed authentication (reject, quarantine, or none), a reporting email address to receive feedback on email authentication results, and optional additional instructions.
DMARC helps prevent email spoofing and phishing by providing a way for email receivers to differentiate legitimate emails from fraudulent ones, reducing the risk of email-based scams and attacks.
Why do you need to add DMARC record?
Businesses need to add DMARC record in order to protect their domain names and emails against various forms of email-based attacks, impersonation and fraud.
Here are some key reasons why you might want to add a DMARC record:
- Email authentication: DMARC helps verify the authenticity of emails sent from your domain.
- Protect against phishing: Phishing attacks often involve the impersonation of well-known brands or organizations. By setting up DMARC, you can prevent cybercriminals from using your domain name to send fraudulent emails to unsuspecting recipients.
- Email deliverability: A DMARC record helps improve the deliverability of legitimate emails from your domain, as receivers can confidently identify legitimate emails and avoid marking them as spam.
- Reporting and visibility: DMARC also includes reporting mechanisms that provide valuable insights into the email ecosystem and potential abuse of your domain.
How to create a DMARC record?
To create a DMARC DNS record for your domain, make sure you have – a) a reliable tool to generate the record and b) access to your DNS management console to publish the record. Follow the steps given below:
1. Sign up on the PowerDMARC portal
Sign up to access our portal using an email address or sign up using Gmail/Office 365
2. Go to PowerToolbox > DMARC Record Generator
On the portal menu, click on PowerToolbox under analysis tools and go to the DMARC record generator tool.
3. Define a DMARC policy and click “Generate”
Decide on a DMARC policy depending on your desired enforcement level (none, quarantine, or reject).
How to Publish DMARC Record?
Step 1: Access your DNS Management Console
Given below is an example of a cPanel DNS management console, however, steps will vary depending on your DNS hosting provider (e.g. Cloudflare, Godaddy, Bluehost, Amazon SES etc.)
Step 2: Click on DNS Zone Editor
Under the Domains section, click on DNS Zone editor or Advanced Zone Editor
Step 3: Add a TXT type record
Add DMARC record of type TXT (tex), filling in details as shown below. In the “TXT data” or “value” field you need to paste your previously created DMARC record.
Note: Steps may vary depending on your DNS hosting provider.
How to verify your DMARC record?
To verify your DMARC record you can use our free DMARC checker tool. Once you detect errors in your record, you must implement the necessary changes to your DNS and save changes. You may recheck your record once the changes are processed.
DMARC Record Example
A typical error-free DMARC record looks something like this:
v=DMARC1; p=none; sp=none; rua=mailto:[email protected]; ruf=mailto:[email protected]; fo=1;
The generated record is now to be published in your domain’s DNS on the subdomain: _dmarc.YOURDOMAIN.com
DMARC Record is Published: What’s Next?
After you are done publishing your DMARC record your next step should be to focus on protecting your domain from scammers and impersonators. That is your main agenda when you are implementing security protocols and email authentication services.
Simply publishing a DMARC record with a p=none policy doesn’t offer any protection against domain spoofing attacks and email fraud. For that, you need to shift to DMARC enforcement.
DMARC Enforcement with PowerDMARC
To gain immunity from impersonation attacks while making sure that your email deliverability doesn’t get impacted at enforcement, what you need to do is:
- Sign up with PowerDMARC and enable DMARC reporting for your domain
- Get daily DMARC RUA reports on email authentication results available in an array of viewing options for ease of understanding
- Get forensic report updates on the dashboard whenever emails fail authentication
- Stay under the SPF hard limit to ensure your SPF record never gets invalidated
With DMARC aggregate and forensic reports, moving from monitoring to enforcement becomes a cakewalk for domain owners, as you can visually monitor your email flow and track and respond to deliverability issues instantaneously from the PowerDMARC platform. Sign up today for your free DMARC analyzer trial!
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