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Deploying DMARC

3 Mistakes to Avoid When Deploying DMARC in Your Organization

Currently, most organizations understand the importance of deploying Domain-Based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) to stay safe from the rising email fraud cases. DMARC protects your business’ trusted domains from endless email spoofing and cybersecurity attacks. Deploying this email authentication protocol prevents spoofers and phishers from exploring vulnerabilities in your email domain, which helps preserve customer trust and brand image.

Unfortunately, despite the increasing popularity of DMARC, not all businesses get to achieve the full anti-spoofing benefits of this system. Avoid the following mistakes when deploying DMARC in your organization to get the best from this system.

1.     Ignoring inactive domains

Almost every organization has both active and inactive/parked domains. However, most organizations implement DMARC only in their active domains, ignoring inactive email domains. This is a common mistake, probably because most people don’t see the value of parked domains. While you might not send emails with inactive domains, malicious individuals can abuse or explore vulnerabilities on these domains.

Whether active or inactive, all domains represent your company. If cybercriminals misuse inactive domains by sending fraudulent emails and notifications to your vendors and customers, your company’s reputation might be at stake. Fortunately, since parked domains are inactive, you can easily protect them. Ensure that you configure DMARC for both parked and active domains.

2.     Choosing a full “reject” policy

DMARC is among the many ways that businesses can protect their credentials. However, you should proceed cautiously when implementing DMARC in your organization. Most businesses choose a “full reject” policy after deploying DMARC to their systems. Full reject policy put a complete halt to email spoofing. While this may sound good, it may affect your domain’s deliverability rate. This prevents legitimate emails from getting into your inbox.

To avoid this, experts recommend deploying DMARC policies in phases. For instance, you can start by choosing the “None” policy, which tracks traffic and identifies potentially spoofed or unsigned messages and malicious sources. With time, you can upgrade to the “Quarantine” policy and monitor the results. Once you are sure that the policy doesn’t redirect legitimate emails to spam, you can advance to the “full reject” policy.

3.     Not analyzing DMARC data

Apart from monitoring and preventing spammers and phishers, DMARC also provides aggregated data reports outlining your domain email compliance and authentication status. If analyzed properly, these reports can provide beneficial insights into the performance of your outbound email platform. 

You should explore various ways of analyzing and interpreting the data provided by these reports. You can buy a tool or employ DMARC monitoring service experts with dedicated personnel for this task. Make sure that you include the reporting address when deploying DMARC. This will ensure that you receive these reports regularly.

closing thoughts

Deploying DMARC to your organization is both overwhelming and complicated. However, as the interest in DMARC deployment grows exponentially, organizations should be wary of common mistakes to avoid in order to enjoy full anti-phishing and anti-spoofing benefits.

Harry Wilson

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