{"id":2133,"date":"2021-06-10T16:40:20","date_gmt":"2021-06-10T13:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/?p=2133"},"modified":"2022-05-11T12:32:14","modified_gmt":"2022-05-11T09:32:14","slug":"how-to-configure-spf-dkim-and-dmarc-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/how-to-configure-spf-dkim-and-dmarc-records\/","title":{"rendered":"How to configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Email is the most utilized channel for targeted cyber attacks. It presents the biggest opportunity for hackers to <\/span>crawl<\/span><\/i> into your network and get a foothold.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data shows that <\/span>over 90 percent<\/span><\/a> of cyber attacks start with email messages. Email spoofers send about 3.1 billion phishing emails daily\u2014costing the world more than $29 billion since 2016. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FBI reported that about <\/span>467,000 cyber attacks<\/b> were successful in 2019, with emails providing a launchpad to 24 percent of them. Email-based cyber attacks often start with simple and seemingly innocent email messages. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But you could protect yourself and your organization against these attacks by configuring SPF, DKIM, DMARC records and using them together. What are they, and how do you configure the records?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Come, let\u2019s find out.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Understanding SPF, DKIM and DMARC Records<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

SPF, DKIM and DMARC<\/b> are some of the most common DNS records for email accounts, offering protections against spoofing and email phishing.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They work together to detect forged sender addresses and authenticate sent emails. Let\u2019s quickly understand what these terms mean.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s SPF?<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The <\/span>Sender Policy Framework (SPF) record is a DNS record<\/b> that helps authenticate emails by specifying to mail exchanges the authorized host to send mail for a domain. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It enables your mail server to confirm that a mail claiming to come from a specific domain is actually from there.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And here is how it works. <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Domain owners use <\/span>SPF records to specify the IP addresses <\/b>authorized to send mails from their domains, for example, <\/span>domain.com<\/span><\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When someone sends an email that claims to come from that domain, the receiving mail server verifies if you authorized <\/span>the <\/b>IP address<\/b><\/a> in TXT records to send emails.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If it comes out green, the mail server receives the mail but rejects messages from unauthorized IP addresses.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s DKIM?<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

DKIM, short for Domain Key Identified Mail<\/b>, is an email security protocol that ensures people don\u2019t tamper with your mail while in transit.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s how it works.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you send an email, the protocol signs it with a private key using public-key cryptography as it leaves your outgoing<\/span> (SMTP) server<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your recipient\u2019s incoming mail server uses the <\/span>public key published to your domain\u2019s DNS to verify the source of the mail and confirm<\/b> the content of the messages hasn\u2019t changed during transit. If the recipient\u2019s server verifies the signature as authentic, the message passes DKIM and gets delivered.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s DMARC?<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Domain-based Mail Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC)<\/b> is an email security protocol that uses SPF and DKIM to authenticate emails.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Email senders use the record to specify how to handle emails that were not SPF or DKIM authenticated.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three DMARC policies are:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n