The Benefits of Monitor Mode
When a technology exists that can tell you if and when your domains are being spoofed (and by who), why would you not use it?!
What is DMARC?
DMARC was created to address some fundamental problems with existing email authentication technologies (SPF and DKIM). It provides feedback about your email authentication implementation and gives ISPs (Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, AOL, etc.) and recipients guidance about what to do with email that is not authenticated. If email authentication is set up correctly on your servers you can tell recipients to automatically reject all unauthenticated email using a DMARC Reject policy.
DMARC Monitor Policy (Monitor Mode)
Even if you don’t configure email authentication for outbound email, you can set up DMARC with a Monitor policy for your domains and get visibility into your email ecosystem that you never had before.
DMARC monitor mode gives you huge value almost immediately by simply adding a text record in DNS for each of your domains. That’s it! No software to install.
Example DMARC record: v=DMARC1; p=none; fo=1; rua=mailto:[email protected]; ruf=mailto:[email protected]
Once DMARC records are in place, the feedback that you automatically get in Agari DMARC Protection™ after just a couple of days will provide you with information about every server that sends email from your domains. This includes information (IP address, geographic location, etc.) about your own servers (even the ones you don’t know about), about the ever growing number of web services (SalesForce, Marketo ,etc.) that you send email from and about criminals who are spoofing your domains to send spam, malware and phishing email with malicious intent.
From Information Comes Action!
With this new information, you can:
- Determine the effectiveness of your email authentication implementation on your servers (“oh, this is why we did this!”) or determine that you need it (“we’re being spoofed!”)
- Help your web services partners set up email authentication to allow them to send email on your behalf.
- provide details to Takedown Vendors who can go after those malicious criminals and stop them from putting your brand, your customers and your company at risk.
Who Should Use DMARC?
Everyone. No matter how large or small your company is, no matter how much email your company sends, you could become the victim of domain spoofing and risk your business and others. Leverage the work that Agari, Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, AOL, Comcast, etc. has done to provide you with the visibility that DMARC Monitor Mode gives you to protect yourself and make the internet a safer place for everyone.