DKIM Generator: Create DKIM Keys Securely And Safeguard Your Emails Against Spoofing Attempts
A DKIM generator helps generate DKIM public and private keys securely and cryptographically sign emails.
In addition to the implementation of SPF and DMARC, adopting DKIM can further protect email senders and receivers by providing an additional layer of security that leverages encryption for better email authentication. A DKIM signature is designed to prevent alterations in email messages while in transit between the sender and the receiver; implementing it eliminates the chances of malicious intrusions. Domain administrators can use a DKIM generator to create keys and publish a DKIM signature for a domain. Such a DKIM signature is an alpha-numeric string of characters.
Table of Contents
What Is A DKIM Generator?
A DKIM generator is a tool that generates the encryption/decryption key pair for a domain name, which consists of a private key and a public key. There are various ways to create DKIM keys, as mentioned below
- Using an organization’s email server if it has a native DKIM generator.
- Using an open-source project that helps generate the DKIM keys.
- One may also use OpenSSL to generate DKIM keys.
Understanding How DKIM Works Using DKIM Keys
Once the user creates the key pairs using a DKIM generator, the DKIM public key (or the p-value) is stored as a TXT record in the domain zone’s DNS. The private key creates a DKIM signature for emails sent, and the receiving server uses it to validate the email against the public key.
The inbound mail server checks
- If the version number is as per DKIM specification
- If the sender’s domain identity information matches that in the signature
- The ‘h=’ tag contains the ‘From’ header field.
The inbound server then looks up the sender’s DKIM public key to verify the DKIM signature. A DKIM header contains information tags, such as ‘d=,’ ‘b=’ and ‘bh=,’ used for verification by recomputing the sender’s public key. If there is a match, the email passes DKIM signature verification.
Alternatively, the DKIM verification may fail. The following reasons can cause a DKIM failure to occur.
- The DKIM signature domain and sender domain (‘From’ header) do not match.
- The sender’s DNS zone is unreachable for lookup.
- The DKIM public key in the DNS zone is not published or incorrect.
- The length of the DKIM key is too short. Currently, 1024 or 2048-bit long keys are standard.
- There may be modifications in the message due to attempted forgery.
Having emails secured with DKIM signatures is highly recommended as it provides an edge to email security and communication. The absence of a DKIM signature may lead to emails being treated as spam or phishing attempts. Incorrectly set up DKIM records can also lead to emails being dropped and might create a poor reputation for an organization. Using a DKIM generator from reputable third-party providers helps avoid incorrectly or poorly set up DKIM records.
Join the thousands of organizations that use DuoCircle
Find out how affordable it is for your organization today and be pleasantly surprised.
Interested in our Partner Program for MSPs and VARs? Visit Our MSP Partner Program.