Email Authentication

DMARC Policy & Reporting

Define what happens to email that fails SPF and DKIM, and receive aggregate reports on who's sending from your domain.

⚡ Monitored by EmailExacto Intelligence

What is DMARC Policy & Reporting?

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) builds on SPF and DKIM. It lets you tell receivers what to do with unauthenticated email — nothing (none), mark as spam (quarantine), or reject — and sends you aggregate reports showing all sources sending from your domain.

DMARC alignment requires the SPF-authenticated domain or DKIM-signing domain to match the From: header domain, preventing lookalike spoofing attacks.

How It Works

A DMARC record is a DNS TXT record at _dmarc.yourdomain.com:

_dmarc.yourdomain.com TXT "v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourdomain.com; pct=100"

Key tags: p sets policy (none/quarantine/reject), rua receives aggregate XML reports, pct controls the percentage of failing mail the policy applies to, sp sets a subdomain policy. Start at p=none, review reports, then progress to quarantine then reject.

Why It Matters

DMARC at p=reject is the only way to completely prevent unauthorised senders from impersonating your domain in the From: header — closing the door on brand-spoofing phishing attacks. Since February 2024, Gmail and Yahoo require DMARC for bulk senders. Microsoft followed in May 2025.

How EmailExacto Helps

DMARC Monitoring & Reporting in EmailExacto

EmailExacto automatically collects and parses DMARC aggregate reports from Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other major senders.

  • Automatic RUA collection — reports sent to dmarc@emailexacto.net are parsed and matched to your domain
  • Daily digest — source IPs, pass/fail counts, and auth results every morning
  • DMARC policy contributes up to 25 points to your deliverability score
  • Policy guidance — know when you're ready to move from none to quarantine to reject
See EmailExacto Intelligence →

What to Get Right

Start with p=none to collect data without affecting mail flow, then move to quarantine then reject.

Set rua= to an address you actively monitor — unread DMARC reports are wasted intelligence.

Achieve p=reject to fully protect your domain from brand impersonation.

Use sp= to set a separate policy for subdomains that don't send email.

Review DMARC reports for unauthorised senders — they often reveal shadow IT.

Don't set pct= below 100% in production — partial policies leave your domain partially exposed.

Related Topics

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