How to Publish a DMARC Record in 3 Easy Steps?

Before we proceed toward publishing a DMARC record, it is important to understand what a DMARC record is? A DMARC record is nothing but a?DNS TXT record?that can be published in your domain’s DNS (Domain Naming System) so as to configure Domain-Based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance or?DMARC ?for your domain. By configuring DMARC for your domain you as the domain owner now have the ability to specify to receiving servers how they should respond to emails that are sent from unauthorized or illegitimate sources.

Instructions for Generating Your DMARC Record

The process for generating your DMARC DNS Record is extremely simple if you use the PowerDMARC?free DMARC record generator ?tool for this purpose. All you need to do is fill up the following criteria:

• Choose your?DMARC policy ?mode(if you are just starting out with email authentication, we recommend a policy of p=none for you to begin with so you can monitor your email flow)
• Choose the DMARC policy mode for your subdomains ( we recommend you only activate this criterion if you wish to opt for a different policy for your subdomains, else, by default it takes up the same policy as your main domain)
• Type in your desired email addresses wherein you want your DMARC RUA (aggregate) and RUF (Forensic) reports being delivered to
• Choose your DKIM alignment mode (for strict alignment the DKIM signature in the email header has to match exactly with the domain found in the from header. For relaxed alignment the two domains must share the same organizational domain only)
• Choose your SPF alignment mode (for strict alignment the domain in the Return-path header has to match exactly with the domain found in the from header. For relaxed alignment the two domains must share the same organizational domain only)
• Choose your forensic options (this represents under which circumstances you want to receive your forensic reports)

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

How to Publish Your DMARC Record??

In order to publish your generated DMARC record, you will need to log in to your DNS console and navigate to the specific domain for which you want to configure DMARC.

After navigating to the domain in your DNS management console, you will need to specify the hostname and the resource type. Since DMARC exists in your domain as a DNS TXT record, the resource type for it is?TXT, and the hostname to be specified in this case is:?_dmarc?

Finally, you need to add the value of your DMARC record (the record you generated previously):?v=DMARC1; p=none; sp=none; rua=mailto:[email protected]; ruf=mailto:[email protected]; fo=1;

Save changes to the whole process and you have successfully configured DMARC for your domain!

What Should be My Next Steps?

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 anyway 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.

What is DMARC Enforcement?

You can achieve DMARC enforcement if you implement a DMARC policy mode of p=reject or p=quarantine. For maximum protection from domain spoofing attacks and BEC, we recommend a policy mode of reject.?However, the process for achieving DMARC enforcement isn’t as simple as changing your policy mode from monitoring to enforcement. To gain immunity from impersonation attacks all while making sure that your email deliverability doesn’t get impacted, 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!