What is DMARC and how can it protect your business from phishing?
Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2024 10:07 am
Inspired by an article from Marketing4eCommerce , today we want to talk to you about what DMARC is and how it can help your business when it comes to preventing possible threats derived from phishing ; that term used to refer to one of the most used methods by cybercriminals to scam and obtain confidential information (such as bank details, website passwords, etc.) from clients of other brands, achieved by impersonating them in front of different users, supplanting their identity and presenting the (deceptive) email in a very similar way to the rest of the communications shared by the brand.
In this situation, DMARC offers protection against those dreaded phishing attacks . These, by the way, not only harm the recipient (who reveals their personal data unconsciously), but also the reputation of the brand, as well as its ability to deliver future email campaigns.
But let's start at the beginning.
Post Content
What is DMARC?
How does DMARC work?
What problems does it present?
What is DMARC?
We can define DMARC as the Domain-Based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance process , which, in other words, is a resource that companies can use to control , record and report the misuse of their sender address . The objective of this tool is to be able to intercept the identity theft of a brand in question as quickly and appropriately as possible .
But the most curious thing of all is that - even if you are not very familiar with this concept - the truth is that DMARC is something that has been active in the market, helping brands, since 2012.
How does DMARC work?
DMARC therefore works as follows: the owner of the domain through which emails are sent (usually the brand) must configure the SPF records and the DKIM public key within its DNS.
#ctaText??# Email Marketing for Pharmacies
But what is SPF and DKIM? you may be wondering. Easy: SPF (Sender Policy Framework) aims to prevent the falsification of a sender, by verifying that the emails actually come from a host authorized by the domain administrator (in this case, usually the brand). On the other hand, DKIM (DomainKey's Identified Mail) seeks to prove that the email has not been moved or displaced from its path, and that it has actually been generated by the sender it claims to be.
Well, once SPF and DKIM are configured, you also specify which IP addresses and which signatures have the brand's consent to send legitimate content.
With this entire process bosnia and herzegovina business email list completed (and with a few more steps that we have not defined, but which we can advise you on as an Email Marketing tool that we are, without any problem), we can now guarantee the integrity of the messages , since -using the technologies mentioned above- the owner of the domain will be notified every time a message is sent under his name (domain, IP, etc.), and it will not be until he validates it that they are sent to his community or database.
In this way, the domain (or brand) owner has three different options to choose from when notified of the sending of messages:
Mark as None : sending without problem. That is, giving the green light.
Mark as Quarantine : the content will end up in the SPAM folder
Mark as Reject : prohibiting further delivery.
What problems does it present?
Although it seems like something very practical and useful for brands to implement to prevent phishing, it is true that not everything that glitters is gold : the problem it creates is that it is not perfectly clear what use of personal data requires the use of DMARC in companies; something that, within the European territory, and taking into account the Data Protection Law, can pose certain difficulties when it comes to ensuring full and complete compliance with the LOPD.
#ctaText??# Privacy Shield, the light in the chaos in email marketing caused by Safe Harbor
Let's look at it in more detail.
According to Article 4.1 of the LOPD, personal data is understood as " all information that relates to an identified or identifiable person ." This also applies to static and dynamic IP addresses, as well as domains. On the other hand, the law also establishes that the processing of personal data - in third parties - is permitted as long as it is authorized by the law itself, or, failing that, by the person affected.
So, with this in mind, what happens with the transfer or use of information when its purpose is to protect the legitimate interests of a user or entity? That is the question, since, let us remember, to implement DMARC, it is necessary to transfer a series of information, which, let us say, is the responsibility of the domain owner, but contains data from third parties, which they have transferred to the brand (domain owner), but not to a third party. Do you follow what we mean? Well, this is the debate that this issue generates in Europe, and for which reason its use is not yet fully standardized.
However, we can also say that, according to Mailexperten, DMARC is fully compatible with the restrictions established in the LOPD. However, what it does say is that all information that is going to be transferred must be anonymized or deleted as soon as possible in the reports in question. In fact, it is true that the reports require a lot of information that is not necessary for effective use of DMARC, so it is recommended to delete them as soon as possible, thus avoiding any type of problem.
In this situation, DMARC offers protection against those dreaded phishing attacks . These, by the way, not only harm the recipient (who reveals their personal data unconsciously), but also the reputation of the brand, as well as its ability to deliver future email campaigns.
But let's start at the beginning.
Post Content
What is DMARC?
How does DMARC work?
What problems does it present?
What is DMARC?
We can define DMARC as the Domain-Based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance process , which, in other words, is a resource that companies can use to control , record and report the misuse of their sender address . The objective of this tool is to be able to intercept the identity theft of a brand in question as quickly and appropriately as possible .
But the most curious thing of all is that - even if you are not very familiar with this concept - the truth is that DMARC is something that has been active in the market, helping brands, since 2012.
How does DMARC work?
DMARC therefore works as follows: the owner of the domain through which emails are sent (usually the brand) must configure the SPF records and the DKIM public key within its DNS.
#ctaText??# Email Marketing for Pharmacies
But what is SPF and DKIM? you may be wondering. Easy: SPF (Sender Policy Framework) aims to prevent the falsification of a sender, by verifying that the emails actually come from a host authorized by the domain administrator (in this case, usually the brand). On the other hand, DKIM (DomainKey's Identified Mail) seeks to prove that the email has not been moved or displaced from its path, and that it has actually been generated by the sender it claims to be.
Well, once SPF and DKIM are configured, you also specify which IP addresses and which signatures have the brand's consent to send legitimate content.
With this entire process bosnia and herzegovina business email list completed (and with a few more steps that we have not defined, but which we can advise you on as an Email Marketing tool that we are, without any problem), we can now guarantee the integrity of the messages , since -using the technologies mentioned above- the owner of the domain will be notified every time a message is sent under his name (domain, IP, etc.), and it will not be until he validates it that they are sent to his community or database.
In this way, the domain (or brand) owner has three different options to choose from when notified of the sending of messages:
Mark as None : sending without problem. That is, giving the green light.
Mark as Quarantine : the content will end up in the SPAM folder
Mark as Reject : prohibiting further delivery.
What problems does it present?
Although it seems like something very practical and useful for brands to implement to prevent phishing, it is true that not everything that glitters is gold : the problem it creates is that it is not perfectly clear what use of personal data requires the use of DMARC in companies; something that, within the European territory, and taking into account the Data Protection Law, can pose certain difficulties when it comes to ensuring full and complete compliance with the LOPD.
#ctaText??# Privacy Shield, the light in the chaos in email marketing caused by Safe Harbor
Let's look at it in more detail.
According to Article 4.1 of the LOPD, personal data is understood as " all information that relates to an identified or identifiable person ." This also applies to static and dynamic IP addresses, as well as domains. On the other hand, the law also establishes that the processing of personal data - in third parties - is permitted as long as it is authorized by the law itself, or, failing that, by the person affected.
So, with this in mind, what happens with the transfer or use of information when its purpose is to protect the legitimate interests of a user or entity? That is the question, since, let us remember, to implement DMARC, it is necessary to transfer a series of information, which, let us say, is the responsibility of the domain owner, but contains data from third parties, which they have transferred to the brand (domain owner), but not to a third party. Do you follow what we mean? Well, this is the debate that this issue generates in Europe, and for which reason its use is not yet fully standardized.
However, we can also say that, according to Mailexperten, DMARC is fully compatible with the restrictions established in the LOPD. However, what it does say is that all information that is going to be transferred must be anonymized or deleted as soon as possible in the reports in question. In fact, it is true that the reports require a lot of information that is not necessary for effective use of DMARC, so it is recommended to delete them as soon as possible, thus avoiding any type of problem.