Email Authentication

Posted: Saturday 10 February 2024 by ProWeb

It is important that all of your email sources are adhering to email authentication requirements.  This is used to verify that your email has come from a legitimate source and is one of the many methods to reduce spam.

Starting in 2024, Google are now making the email authentication requirements mandatory for bulk senders.  However we recommend that everyone has email authentication setup to ensure your emails get delivered.

 

Authenticate Your Emails with SPF, DKIM and DMARC

Sender Policy Framework (SPF) will allow email senders to authorise‌ legitimate sending servers. SPF allows only permitted ‌IP addresses to send emails on behalf of their domain.

DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) helps protect your email’s content from being altered. It adds digital signatures to message headers as a verification mark.

DMARC binds it all together by aligning messages against SPF and/or DKIM checkpoints. With DMARC, you can set up instructions for receiving servers to accept, quarantine, or reject misaligned emails. It helps protect your domain against phishing, spoofing, business email compromise, and more.

 

SPF, DKIM and DMARC DNS Records

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are stored in the Domain Name System (DNS).

If you are hosting your email through ProWeb, then SPF and DKIM records are automatically setup for you.

If you have other email sources or hosting your email elsewhere, then these DNS records will need to be added to your domain name.

SPF Example:

@ TXT "v=spf1 include:_spf.proweb.co.nz ~all"

DMARC Example:

If you do not have a DMARC record, the one we are suggesting a basic valid record.
_dmarc TXT "v=DMARC1; p=none;"

 

DKIM Example:

This is a bit more technical as you need to generate public and private keys on the email providers systems.  It is best to follow the instructions of the email provider.
selector-name._domainkey TXT "v=DKIM1; p=76E629F05F709EF665853333EEC3F5ADE69A2362BECE40658267AB2FC3CB6CBE"

 

If you are a ProWeb customer, feel free to reach out to us and we can assist you with getting the appropriate SPF, DKIM and DMARC DNS records setup and ensure that you are complying with best practices for email authentication.

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