Email is still the top vector for compromising system security. Even the US government uses phishing for national security. Large company brands are prime targets for use in phishing and fraud attacks due to their brand recognition and widespread use by consumers. Adopting DMARC helps protect brands from being used in phishing and fraud attacks by giving senders more information about email being sent "From" their domain. DMARC is therefore a business necessity for protecting online brands and getting legitimate email delivered to customers, suppliers, and partners.
Unfortunately, DMARC adoption is still incomplete within the Fortune 500 and Alexa 1000.
In the last year, adoption has increased dramatically (30% more DMARC domains since 2018), but there is still a long way to go before these important domains are protecting their outbound email. Once a company adopts DMARC, they need to take time and care to transition to restrictive DMARC policies like "Quarantine" or "Reject". However, these large businesses are mostly uncovered, opening them up for use in phishing and fraud attacks using their brands.
It would be fair to assume that large companies are more likely to be targeted, however, all entities that send email are potential threatened by fraud and phishing attacks as well as basic everyday email delivery problems. In fact, MxToolbox has seen a recent rise in fraud targeting small businesses.
To protect yourself, your business and improve your email delivery, you need to adopt DMARC as soon as possible.
MxToolbox’s Experts are continually investigating technologies that affect email deliverability. Blacklisting was once the key threat to legitimate emailers. Being on a blacklist will block your email from delivery, at the routers or email gateways. Now, without SPF, DKIM and DMARC, your email may make it past the blacklist filters and still never make it to your recipients.
How does DMARC work?
DMARC works in conjunction with SPF and DKIM to report on the compliance of email sent on behalf of your domain. Inbox providers prioritize email from senders that have email that is SPF compliant and DKIM signed.
The important thing to understand is that recipients using DMARC look at your entire email volume, all email that uses your domain in the “From” section of the email header, including your legitimate email, 3rd party senders, spam and spoofing. In some cases, spam and spoofing email sent on behalf of your domain may dwarf legitimate communications. The only way to know is to request DMARC summary reports from recipients and inbox providers, process those reports and take actions based upon key information in the reports. MxToolbox is here to help.
