The ‘fo’ tag in DMARC stands for ‘failure options.’ It’s an optional tag that helps domain owners specify the types of authentication and alignment issues that must be reported. This tag supports four specific types of failure reports: fo=0, fo=1, fo=d, and fo=s. The ‘fo’ tag can combine multiple reporting options, enabling you to create a customized reporting strategy that aligns best with your preferences and risk tolerance.
In a digital world where email is still a primary mode of communication, protecting your domain from malicious attacks has never been more critical. You may think email security only pertains to big corporations, but every organization, large or small, should be on alert against threats like phishing and spoofing.
The role of canonicalization in preventing email breakage in DKIM
by DuoCircle
DKIM policy secures your email communications by detecting any kind of tampering or alterations during the transit. However, the journey from your outbox to a receiving inbox is an intricate one. Since emails get delivered super quick, we fail to notice the minor changes that take place during the process. The mail systems may lead to certain minor changes in the email content (line breaks, case differences, whitespace, and so on). Even though the changes may not appear to be too major, they can affect the integrity of the email, thereby resulting in DKIM failure. In order to avoid these instances of false negatives, you must focus on canonicalizing your emails.
Is BIMI just an authentication protocol? 6 Reasons it’s more than that!
by DuoCircle
Your emails are not simply a communication channel; they are a representation of your brand, its trustworthiness, identity, and professionalism. Similarly, Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) is more than just an authentication protocol.
There is no doubt that DMARC is deployed to prevent phishing and spoofing emails; however, misconfigured DMARC records are synonymous with exploitable vulnerabilities. DMARC is implemented in tandem with SPF and DKIM. This email authentication structure compensates for the drawbacks of SPF and DKIM. SPF’s drawback is that it is highly likely to break when emails are forwarded; this means when someone forwards a legitimate email, the receiving server will either mark it as spam or reject it. DKIM’s drawback is that it triggers false positives because of inadvertent message modifications.
Everything you need to know about setting up email authentication on Mailchimp!
by DuoCircle
If you want your emails to reach your subscribers’ inboxes without any hassle, setting up email authentication for your authorized domain is something you can’t afford to ignore. Domain authentication enables you to send out your emails to the right inbox. It also enables you to maintain your subscriber base and grow them eventually by keeping them actively engaged.
How does DKIM alignment affect overall DMARC compliance?
by DuoCircle
DMARC is based on SPF and DKIM results. For an email to pass the DMARC checks, it has to pass at least one of the protocols and have alignment with the domain in the ‘From’ header.
Have you already implemented DMARC but still think there’s a possibility of phishers slipping your email ecosystem and sending fraudulent emails on your behalf?
Yahoo Japan has mandated DMARC and domain authentication
by DuoCircle
In November 2023, Yahoo announced that by February 1st, 2024, any company that sends more than 5,000 emails per day has to deploy DMARC to minimize the risk of email-based spoofing, phishing, and ransomware. After this announcement, the rate of DMARC adoption surged, and now Yahoo Japan has also made DMARC and domain authentication mandatory for users as of December 2024. Experts see this as a great opportunity to improve companies’ email security posture.(more…)
Back in 2024, email service providers such as Google and Yahoo rolled out new email-sending policies. One would have thought that organizations would begin to take email security more seriously, but so far, that hasn’t been the case. In fact, cybersecurity experts have found that phishing attacks have shot up, with the number of phishing messages increasing by 202% in the second half of 2024.
Enforcement rules for DMARC for optimum protection against phishing and spoofing
by DuoCircle
Just like SPF offers domain owners the choice between Softfail and Hardfail, DMARC has three enforcement rules: none, quarantine, and reject. Each has its own significance and relevance in the DMARC compliance journey.
Understanding everything about DMARC records and tags
by DuoCircle
Email security is a growing concern for businesses and individuals alike. Increased email spoofing and phishing attempts have made it crucial to implement security measures to safeguard communication channels. One such powerful tool to protect email communications is DMARC or Domain-based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance. Its job is to authenticate email messages and take suitable action against unauthorized emails. The DMARC policy works in coordination with SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) protocols.
The ultimate DMARC monitoring guide you need to keep your domain safe
by DuoCircle
The emails you send out to your clients have the potential to transform your business. Although you might already know this, what you might not be aware of is that not all your emails reach your recipients’ inboxes. Instead of landing in the inbox where the recipient can read and engage with the email, some emails might get flagged as spam or, worse, fail to deliver altogether. There are many reasons this could happen, but the most common reasons that Email Service Providers (ESPs) flag your emails are improper authentication, suspicious activities, or malicious actors attempting to spoof your domain. These are some of the last things you would want for your emails.
How can DMARC reports help identify and mitigate third-party email abuse?
by DuoCircle
You might already know that it’s not only your domain that sends out emails. In most cases, there are third-party services or entities, such as CRM systems, marketing platforms, payment platforms, etc., that might send out emails on your behalf. But have you really paid attention to the security implications of these systems? Although you might have authorized these platforms to send emails to your clients on your behalf, chances are that they might become a blind spot for you and a doorway for attackers to execute their malicious attacks.
How are DMARC enforcement and DMARC reporting different?
by DuoCircle
Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) is one of the most powerful tools that security teams rely on to combat email-based attacks such as phishing, spoofing, and Business Email Compromise (BEC). Essentially, this tool enables domain owners to protect their domains from scammers by specifying how emails should be handled if they fail authentication checks. But the best part about DMARC is that it goes beyond enforcing policies to block malicious emails; it gives you insights into all that’s going on with your domain and its email traffic. We are talking about the reporting aspect of DMARC, which works hand-in-hand with enforcement to create a complete email security system.
With rapid digitization, email has become one of the most effective communication tools, both for business and corporate entities. However, the matter of concern is that the same emails are a favorite avenue for threat actors who exploit them to carry out malicious attacks, impersonate trusted brands, and spam naive users. This is where DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) steps in! This is a robust email authentication protocol that can protect your domain as well as email recipients from the prying eyes of cybercriminals.
Enforcing DMARC policies on incoming emails in Amazon WorkMail
by DuoCircle
Email domains use DNS to secure communications from eavesdroppers. They aim at preventing phishing, spoofing, ransomware, and impersonation attacks. DNS records also include a DMARC record, which is implemented and configured by the owner of the specific domain with the intention of allowing only authorized entities to send emails from that domain. A DMARC record consists of DMARC policies that instruct the receiving server on how to deal with unauthorized emails sent from your domain. By unauthorized emails, we mean outgoing emails from your domain that didn’t pass the DMARC checks.
Use cases for none, quarantine, and reject policy in DMARC
by DuoCircle
DMARC’s purpose of instructing receiving servers on how to handle unauthorized emails from your domain is achieved based on what policy you have set in your DMARC record. While p=reject is undoubtedly the strictest policy, there are conditions in which it isn’t a suitable one.
Understanding the importance of DMARC in interagency phishing guide
by DuoCircle
Phishing attacks have spread over the digital world like a plague. Not only are these attacks frequent, but they are also grave and capable of causing irreparable damage to your brand’s reputation. Not to mention the financial toll; phishing attacks cost companies an average of $4.88 million per data breach.
A guide to detecting DMARC problems using the pentesting techniques
by DuoCircle
While DMARC has proven its ability to keep spoofing and phishing attacks at a distance, DMARC records can have errors and misconfigurations. So, if you are seeing multiple instances of false positives, false negatives, delivery issues, etc., then it’s suggested that you check your DMARC record to see if it has issues. This can be done by running your DMARC TXT record through an online lookup tool. You can also come across errors and misconfigurations using penetration testing.
