How Do I Monitor DMARC?
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Last Updated:
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When you have hundreds of thousands of emails flowing through your DMARC policy, it’s tempting just to let the email flow. But if you don’t monitor your campaigns, you’ll miss many issues and customers who went through your unsafe list. Monitoring the delivery and reporting on the Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) service is essential to solving email fraud problems. DMARC filters email based on originator address, also known as sender address, recipient email field, and recipient domain.
“How do I monitor DMARC?” you often have asked yourself. Here’s everything you need to know about tracking it.
Key Takeaways
- DMARC helps in detecting unauthorized email senders and protecting your domain from impersonation.
- Monitoring DMARC is essential for ensuring that your emails are delivered to the intended recipients without being flagged as spam.
- Publishing a DMARC record is a critical first step in establishing email authentication compliance.
- DMARC enforcement allows domain owners to block or quarantine unauthorized emails effectively.
- Ongoing monitoring of DMARC reports is necessary to maintain the integrity of your email communications and prevent spoofing.
DMARC – In a Nutshell
DMARC is a protocol that helps you define what your email should look like. It also identifies whether or not the recipient can access your message.
DMARC is an industry-standard that provides email authentication and anti-spam measures for over 100 million users in over 190 countries.
DMARC helps you:
- Detect when users try to send emails through your domain that they don’t own or when their email address has been altered.
- Identify spammers trying to get into your inbox by pretending to be someone else to trick users into clicking on links they shouldn’t.
Simplify DMARC Monitoring with PowerDMARC!
What Is DMARC Tracking?
DMARC tracking verifies that your outgoing email messages are being delivered to the intended recipients. It aims to provide visibility into how recipients’ mail servers are processing email messages. This provides a mechanism for you to determine if your outgoing messages are reaching the intended recipient or not.
When using an email service provider (ESP) that uses DKIM or DomainKeys Identified Mail, you can use it to verify the DKIM or DomainKeys Identified Mail signatures. This allows you to identify whether an unknown message was sent by your domain and not an imposter pretending to be your domain.
Moreover, it can also be used with SPF records, which allow you to identify whether an unknown sender is authorized to send on your behalf before adding them as a sender in the receiver’s local mail server inbox.
Why Is DMARC Checking Necessary?
You may reach DMARC at enforcement and track who is sending emails from your domain. You can also take action to prevent undesired senders. While not a panacea, DMARC enforcement gives your email software additional protection and enables BIMI. Even if a logo for your company appears little in the inbox, it helps receivers trust your emails by increasing brand recognition.
How Do I Monitor DMARC?
The DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) standard is a set of best practices for email authentication. DMARC is not an email security protocol but provides some tools for keeping your email authentication systems clean and healthy.
The key to maintaining a good DMARC policy is monitoring. There’s no point in having a good DMARC policy if you don’t observe its effectiveness or ignore the reports confirming its efficacy. Emails sent from where and to whom should be blocked cannot be remembered from memory. Monitoring lets you know when something has changed and if it should be addressed immediately.
Also, you can ensure that all legitimate emails are delivered and avoid phony emails being sent from your domain using the DMARC analyzer. You’re doing more than just protecting your brand when you stop spoofing. You’re ensuring the survival of your business.
1. Publish Your DMARC Record DMARC analyzer tool.
The first step is to publish your DMARC record. This simple process requires filling out a form. Still, it’s important because it allows you to demonstrate that you’ve taken every step necessary to comply with the DMARC standards. You can automatically generate a DMARC record with a free DMAC Record Generator tool
This DMARC generator tool is extremely easy to use and creates a legitimate and error-free DMARC DNS record for your domain. Create a DMARC record using the simple methods below:
- Create a domain and subdomain policy.
- Pick your protocol alignment options.
- Get daily summary reports sent to your email address.
- To create a DMARC record, click that button.
2. Create Your Tracking Account
After you complete step 1, you’ll be able to sign up for a free account. Your account will allow you to monitor the reports and alerts from other organizations that use our email blocklisting service.
3. Verify Your Sender Sources
Your DMARC record isn’t much good if it doesn’t include all of your sender IP addresses! Before sending any emails through your system, ensure that you’re sending them from valid sender IP addresses on the list of approved senders.
4. Reach DMARC Enforcement
You can alter your DMARC record to a policy of “quarantine” or “reject,” also known as DMARC enforcement, after determining that all of your valid mail passes DMARC.
Domain owners can instruct recipients to send fraudulent and unauthenticated emails to the spam folder or reject them entirely by using DMARC enforcement. Domain owners will receive reports about malicious IPs attempting to spoof their domain if DMARC enforcement is not properly implemented. Still, they will be powerless to stop domain abusers and impersonators from wreaking havoc.
Only authorized sending domains can transmit your message, thanks to DMARC enforcement. You must have one of those policies activated to use BIMI. A “none” policy prevents a sender from using BIMI.
5. Ongoing Monitoring
You should keep an eye on your DMARC authentication results by using our DMARC reporting tool even after switching to a “quarantine” or “reject” policy. By analyzing an email’s domains and header domains (such as the sender’s address), a DMARC report serves as authentication to ensure the consistency and integrity of the email’s source. This helps prevent email spoofing and other types of cybercrime directed at individuals and businesses. It would be desirable to give the DMARC record check top priority to create a solid email security posture.
You must have a mechanism to monitor changes in your sending services if they occur due to internal issues or service modifications. You may check the authentication status of the services you have allowed and keep an eye out for any new services that may appear on the daily DMARC reports by keeping an eye on these reports.
Conclusion
If you’re a domain owner inclined towards security, you must ask yourself, how do I monitor DMARC? Also, hopefully, the information above will have been helpful to you. It can add another layer of protection to your email marketing and provide valuable insights into how your recipients receive these messages.
But remember: even though DMARC is a good step in the right direction, it’s not perfect—you have to ensure your emails are on time and in good condition on your end.
Domain & Email Security Expert at PowerDMARC
Ahona is the Marketing Manager at PowerDMARC, with 5+ years of experience in writing about cybersecurity topics, specializing in domain and email security. Ahona holds a post-graduation degree in Journalism and Communications, solidifying her career in the security sector since 2019.
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