You’ve taken the crucial first step. You’ve run our Security Level Assessment, and the report is in. If your business landed at a Level 1 or 2, you’re not alone. This is the most common starting point we see, and it often comes down to one single, critical, and widely misunderstood security gap: your email domain security.
If you haven’t, click here to assess your security level now.
Without the right email authentication protocols in place, your business isn’t just vulnerable; it’s an open invitation for scammers. They can easily impersonate your domain, send fraudulent invoices to your clients that look like they came from your CEO, and tarnish the reputation you’ve worked so hard to build.
This isn’t a theoretical risk. It’s the #1 attack vector used against Australian SMBs.
The key to closing this door and progressing to Security Level 3 is a technology called DMARC. In this technical guide, we’ll break down what it is, why it’s non-negotiable, and how you can implement it.
What is DMARC and Why Does It Matter?
DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) is an email authentication protocol with a simple but powerful job: it allows a receiving email server to verify that an incoming email actually came from the organization it claims to be from.
It works in tandem with two other protocols:
- SPF (Sender Policy Framework): This is a list of servers and IP addresses that are authorized to send email on behalf of your domain.
- DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): This adds a cryptographic digital signature to your emails, which the receiving server can verify to ensure the message hasn’t been tampered with in transit.
DMARC is the final, crucial layer. It tells the receiving server what to do if an email fails the SPF or DKIM checks. Should the server reject the email, quarantine it, or just monitor it? Without a DMARC policy, you’re leaving that critical decision up to every individual mail server in the world, resulting in inconsistent and unreliable protection.
Implementing DMARC is the difference between having a security guard at your front door and just hoping nobody tries to walk in.
How to Check Your DMARC Record in 30 Seconds
Curious about your current status? You can perform a quick check right now.
We’ve partnered with Sendmarc to provide you with an instant check of your email security. All you have to do is enter your email at this link to view your status.
The Path to Level 3: Implementing DMARC
Implementing DMARC is a journey, not a single action. It typically starts with a monitoring-only policy and gradually moves to a full rejection policy to avoid blocking legitimate emails.
- Start with Monitoring: The first step is to publish a DMARC record that simply collects data. This allows you to see who is sending email on behalf of your domain (both legitimate and fraudulent) without impacting email delivery.
- Analyse and Authorise: Over a few weeks, you’ll analyze the reports to identify all the services that legitimately send email for you (e.g., Google Workspace, Mailchimp, your accounting software) and ensure they are properly configured for SPF and DKIM.
- Move to Quarantine: Once you’re confident you’ve identified all legitimate senders, you can update your policy to tell receiving servers to move suspicious emails to the spam folder.
- Enforce Rejection: This is the final and most secure state. You are now instructing servers worldwide to completely block any email that fails authentication. This is the gold standard and the key to reaching Security Level 3.
The Simple Way to Level Up
Managing this process manually can be complex, time-consuming, and risky. The reports are difficult to parse, and a single mistake can block critical business emails.
This is where a dedicated tool becomes essential. Sendmarc automates the entire DMARC journey, simplifying the analysis and guiding you safely from monitoring to a full rejection policy. It turns a complex, multi-week project into a managed, streamlined process.
If your assessment revealed a gap in your email security, addressing your DMARC policy is the single most impactful step you can take to level up your defense and protect your business from the most common and costly form of cyber attack.