Are DMARC RUA and RUF tags mandatory for compliance and what are their benefits?
Summary
What email marketers say12Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Mailjet shares that Implementing DMARC without monitoring the RUA reports is like flying blind. You need these reports to understand how your email is being authenticated and to make informed decisions about your DMARC policy. Without reports, you won't know if legitimate email is being blocked or if spoofing attempts are successful.
Email marketer from EmailVendorGuide.com shares that DMARC reporting provides actionable insights into your email authentication practices. By analyzing RUA reports, you can identify and fix any misconfigurations that are preventing your email from being delivered. This can significantly improve your email deliverability and protect your brand reputation.
Email marketer from Mailfence Blog highlights that implementing DMARC, especially utilizing RUA reports, enhances email security and protects your domain's reputation by enabling the monitoring of email authentication results and identifying potential spoofing attempts.
Marketer from Email Geeks shares that RUF is not mandatory, but his clients get plenty of reports that have helped solve issues.
Email marketer from Reddit explains that While RUA is commonly used and recommended for aggregate reporting, RUF provides detailed information on individual email failures. This level of detail is useful for troubleshooting authentication issues and identifying specific spoofing attempts. Some organizations find RUF valuable for investigating and mitigating email security threats.
Email marketer from EasyDMARC shares that RUA is used for aggregate reports, which are daily summaries of DMARC authentication results. RUF is for forensic reports, providing details on individual emails that failed authentication. They highlight that RUA is crucial for monitoring your email authentication health, while RUF can help identify specific phishing attacks or misconfigured email sources.
Email marketer from EmailGeek Blog states that DMARC RUA is key to email authentication, giving insights via aggregate reports. While RUF offers detailed forensic reports, most prioritize RUA for overall monitoring and improving deliverability.
Marketer from Email Geeks states that RUA & RUF are the reporting component of DMARC and without it, you're running email authentication blind, which is not a good idea.
Email marketer from EmailSecurityForum.com explains that when configuring RUA, make sure to use a mailbox that you actively monitor. The aggregate reports can provide a wealth of information about your email authentication, but only if you take the time to analyze them. Ignoring these reports defeats the purpose of setting up DMARC in the first place.
Marketer from Email Geeks says it is entirely possible that RUA becomes a 'must' at some point.
Email marketer from StackExchange shares that if you're setting up DMARC, definitely include the RUA tag. You'll get reports that help you see if your emails are authenticating correctly. RUF is optional but can be helpful for digging into specific authentication failures, though it can also generate a lot of noise.
Email marketer from Proofpoint states that RUA reports provide valuable insights into your email authentication ecosystem. They allow you to see which email sources are passing or failing DMARC checks, helping you identify and address any issues with your email infrastructure or third-party senders. This ensures that legitimate email is delivered while preventing malicious email from reaching your recipients.
What the experts say6Expert opinions
Expert from Word to the Wise (Steve Atkins) explains that DMARC reports (RUA) are very helpful for identifying authentication problems and improving email deliverability. Analyzing these reports allows domain owners to understand how their email is being treated by different receivers and make adjustments to their configuration as needed.
Expert from Email Geeks suggests having RUA pointed at actual reporting that you read, consistently, is important.
Expert from Email Geeks states having RUA is a better 'future proof' configuration.
Expert from Email Geeks explains RUA is a good idea to have in place to ensure authentication is good, particularly when p=reject is required for bulk mail.
Expert from Email Geeks suggests using RUA and ignoring RUF, as virtually no one sends RUF reports anymore.
Expert from SpamResource.com shares that DMARC is useless unless reports are generated, sent, and acted upon. They share RUA is an aggregate report of all emails that hit the filters. RUF is a forensic report that gives individual reports of emails that failed. You need to read and analyze these reports to fine tune your DMARC settings.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from Valimail explains that DMARC reports, especially RUA, are essential for understanding how your email is being handled by receivers. They help you identify legitimate email sources that are failing authentication, as well as potential spoofing attempts. Analyzing these reports allows you to adjust your DMARC policy and email infrastructure to improve deliverability and security.
Documentation from dmarc.org explains that RUA (reporting URI for aggregate reports) and RUF (reporting URI for forensic reports) tags specify where DMARC receivers should send reports. RUA provides a summary of DMARC results, while RUF offers more detailed, message-level information. While not strictly mandatory for DMARC to function, they are highly recommended to gain visibility into email authentication results and potential abuse.
Documentation from Microsoft explains that DMARC RUA specifies where to send aggregate reports about email traffic using your domain. These reports provide a summary of authentication results, which can help you identify potential problems with your email setup or detect unauthorized use of your domain. RUF provides forensic details on failed authentication attempts, which is useful for diagnosing more detailed issues.
Documentation from Google Workspace Admin Help emphasizes the importance of setting up DMARC reporting (RUA) to monitor your domain's email authentication. They outline the steps to configure RUA tags in your DNS record and provide guidance on interpreting the aggregate reports. These reports help you track your DMARC compliance and identify any unauthorized use of your domain.