What Is DKIM?
DKIM, or DomainKeys Identified Mail, is a technique that uses your domain name to sign your emails with a digital “signature” so your customers know it’s really you sending those emails and that they haven’t been altered in transit.
Why Does DKIM Matter & How Does It Work?
Why Does DKIM Matter?
DKIM helps improve email deliverability and works with Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) to prevent email spoofing and prevents fraudulent emails.
How Does DKIM Work?
When SMTP servers receive email with a DKIM signature, they check with the sending domain’s DNS to verify its domain and help deliver the email successfully. If it can’t verify the sender, it may block or mark the email as spam.
What Are Some of the Benefits of DKIM?
DKIM has been widely adopted by the world's major email providers for these reasons and more:
What Are Some Limitations of DKIM?
While DKIM allows recipients to confirm sender identity and if messages were altered during transit, there are still limitations:
DKIM vs. SPF–Describing the Difference
It’s highly recommended to use both DKIM and SPF to protect your email domains from spoofing attacks and fraud while also increasing your email deliverability. Both SPF and DKIM are important email security standards designed to help prevent hackers from spoofing your domains for use in email attacks.
Learn more about how DKIM and SPF can work together to secure your email and protect your brand from impersonation attacks.
How Does DKIM Work with Both DMARC & SPF?
Together, SPF and DKIM provide an important framework to ensure email integrity by fighting spam, and preventing hackers from spoofing your domains or committing other types of fraud. As depicted in the image, DMARC acts as an overlay on this framework and adds three key elements:
- Identity alignment: Enables senders to specify how their email messages are authenticated and to make sure the end user receives the original email.
- Policy management: Enables senders to determine how to check the “From” field presented to a user and what to do upon failure
- Reporting: Provides senders an understanding of the actions performed under that policy.
Basically, DMARC is the only way for email senders to let recipients know the emails they're sending are truly from them.
Maximize DMARC & SPF with DKIM
Look Up DKIM Record Now
Unsure How to Set Up Your DKIM Record?
Setting up your DKIM record is easy. Learn how in this step-by-step guide.
