![]() If a domain that’s not in your SPF tries to send email from your brand, mailbox providers may reject it or send it to the junk folder.īoth SPF and DKIM have strengths and weaknesses. An SPF record, or sender policy framework, contains an official list of domains and servers authorized to send email on behalf of a particular domain, including your email service provider (ESP) and the domain owner.A DKIM signature uses keys to authenticate a sender, matching the private key in the individual email with the known public key from that sender in the DNS record.What’s the difference between a DKIM signature and SPF authentication? These two protocols are simply two different ways to authenticate senders and prevent email spoofing, but a strong email security program uses both. That’s why setting up DKIM authentication is so important for email deliverability - without this and other authentication protocols that confirm your email security, providers like Gmail won’t deliver emails that appear to come from a brand like Microsoft, PayPal, or Bank of America, because scammers regularly use these kinds of brands for email spoofing. ![]() A successful DKIM verification often means a reduced spam score for a message. However, it helps the receiving mail servers decide how to best filter incoming messages. If the key pair does not match, or if there is no DKIM signature detected by the email provider, it’s more likely that the email will be rejected or filtered into the spam folder.ĭKIM itself does not filter emails. When the two DKIM keys match, mailbox providers verify the identity of the sender and the message goes through to the inbox. That private key is the encrypted digital signature, which should be unique to the sender and match what’s published on the DNS. A private key included in the email header.A public key published on the DNS txt record.However, DKIM has a unique way of doing this with an encrypted digital signature: ![]() Records published on the DNS vouch for an email’s authenticity. Like other email authentication methods, DKIM lets senders associate a specific domain with their email messages. What does DKIM do and how does it work?Įssentially, when you set up a DKIM, you’re telling internet service providers (ISPs) that your ESP is sending mail from an authorized system and that it is not spam or spoofing. That made it possible for spammers and scammers to fill inboxes with junk and attempt to spoof trustworthy brands. While SMTP is frequently used, it doesn’t include a way to verify a sender before delivering an email. ![]() Identified Internet Mail is the digital signature portion of the specification.ĭKIM adds another layer of protection to the standard practice of SMTP, or Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. All major mailbox providers look for DKIM signatures when authenticating emails, including Google, Apple Mail, and Outlook.Ĭreated in 2004, DKIM combined two methods designed to prevent email forgery: Yahoo’s “DomainKeys” and Cisco’s “Identified Internet Mail.” The DomainKeys portion was designed to verify the DNS domain of an email sender. This provides an encrypted key to help mailbox providers detect forged sender addresses. A mailbox provider connects the DKIM signature, found in an email’s header, with records published on the domain name server (DNS) of a sender’s domain. Here’s how DKIM works, and what you need to know to implement it for your email marketing program: What is a DKIM signature?ĭKIM, or DomainKeys Identified Mail, is an email authentication protocol that creates a digital signature that mailbox providers use to verify the identity of an email sender. Imagine signing an important letter with invisible ink, which makes it clear the message came from you and no one else. A DKIM signature helps mailbox providers verify you as the sender while preventing phishing attacks known as email spoofing. That’s DomainKeys Identified Mail, or DKIM for short. Of these four email authentication standards, only one comes with a super-secret, encrypted digital key. The best way to prevent this from happening to your subscribers? Set up rigorous email authentication protocols: SPF, BIMI, DMARC, and DKIM. And those attacks are becoming more sophisticated. Some of those fraudulent emails could be from scammers and spammers who are trying to impersonate your brand. There are hundreds of millions of email phishing attacks every year.
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