DMARC stands for Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance. It is an email authentication protocol designed to detect and prevent email spoofing and phishing attacks. DMARC works by allowing domain owners to publish policies in their Domain Name System (DNS) records specifying how email messages purporting to come from their domain should be handled if they fail authentication checks.
Here’s a breakdown of what DMARC does:
1. Authentication: DMARC builds on two existing email authentication protocols: SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail). It allows domain owners to specify which authentication methods their domains use, such as SPF and/or DKIM.
2. Policy: DMARC enables domain owners to publish policies indicating how they want email servers to handle messages that fail authentication. These policies can instruct receiving email servers to reject, quarantine, or deliver such messages but mark them as suspicious.
3. Reporting: DMARC provides feedback to domain owners about email messages that claim to come from their domain, including details about the authentication results and the actions taken by receiving email servers. This reporting helps domain owners monitor and analyze email traffic to detect and mitigate spoofing attempts.
DMARC helps organizations protect their domains from being used in email-based attacks, enhances email deliverability by reducing the chances of legitimate messages being marked as spam or phishing attempts, and provides valuable insights into email traffic for improved security posture.