Email Authentication
What is Email Authentication?
While email is one of the most commonly used communication frameworks in modern technology, it should come as no surprise that it is also one of the most common platforms targeted by malicious actors. In a recent Cisco Systems report, it was noted that nearly 90% of email sent every day are spam. This includes phishing, spoofing, reputation hijacking, and more. That’s why a demand for newer security technologies and authentication protocols were born. Generally defined, email authentication is a multi-method approach to securing email communications using either IP based and/or cryptographic standards. Generally there are three primary standards that people use to authenticate email.
Three Primary Email Authentication Standards
SPF
Sender Policy Framework, allows senders to specify which IP addresses are allowed to send email for their domain.
DKIM
DomainKeys Identified Mail, uses public/private key cryptography to verify that the message was not altered in transit.
DMARC
Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance, is a standard that allows domain owners to define a policy for their SPF and DKIM authentication.
Email Authentication at SocketLabs
How To Authenticate Email
The good news is that any sender using SocketLabs as their email service provider is automatically using authentication from a SocketLabs domain in the background. This practice helps apply necessary authentication and improve deliverability through a pre-established domain reputation from SocketLabs. We highly recommend that customers looking to establish their own sender reputation and apply email authentication from their own domain look towards white-labeling their email.
White-Labeling
White-labeling is a process that helps senders make their email appear as though it it directly from their domain. It is a process that involves configuring DNS entries with your domain’s DNS provider. Senders choose to white-label their email for a number of reasons but typically, white-labeling your email helps to isolate your sender reputation and build a reputation for your domain. To learn more about how to white-label DKIM, SPF and more in our White-label Knowledge Base article here.
Authentication Tools and Resources
What Sets SocketLabs Apart!
We are constantly monitoring changes in ISP authentication practices and make ongoing adjustments to our protocols so clients always have the latest authentication methods at their disposal. Much of our deliverability expertise is applied “behind the scenes” so clients can spend less of their own time optimizing email, and more time on what is important to them.
Authentication is only part of the many steps we take to ensure top deliverability for your emails.
Contact us today or signup for a free account to try it out for yourself!
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