How do I troubleshoot DMARC failures and potential DKIM replay attacks affecting email deliverability?
Summary
What email marketers say15Marketer opinions
Email marketer from SparkPost explains that to prevent DKIM replay attacks, implement strict DKIM key management practices. Regularly rotate your DKIM keys and monitor your email traffic for any unusual patterns. Use a robust email authentication platform to detect and prevent unauthorized email sending.
Marketer from Email Geeks explains that DMARC failures on forwarded emails are normal. It happens when recipients programmatically forward messages, breaking SPF but not DKIM, and the forwarding occurs before the DMARC filter is applied. This does not mean the user has been hacked.
Email marketer from Reddit shares that to detect DKIM replay attacks, monitor your email logs for messages with valid DKIM signatures but originating from unusual IP addresses or locations. Implement rate limiting on your email infrastructure to prevent attackers from sending a large volume of replayed emails.
Email marketer from GlockApps advises using GlockApps to monitor DMARC performance, generate reports, and identify issues affecting deliverability. Their tools help visualize DMARC data and pinpoint specific problems for quick resolution.
Marketer from Email Geeks suggests checking delivery logs for rate limiting and other changes in campaign metrics to identify potential DKIM replay attacks, especially if there are changes from day-to-day.
Email marketer from Mailjet shares that to improve email deliverability after DMARC failures, ensure that your sending domain has proper SPF and DKIM records configured. Monitor DMARC reports regularly to identify and address any authentication issues. Consider using a dedicated IP address to establish a good sending reputation.
Email marketer from Postmarkapp advises that when setting up DMARC policies, start with a 'p=none' policy to monitor your email traffic and identify any authentication issues. Gradually increase the strictness of your policy to 'p=quarantine' and then 'p=reject' as you gain confidence in your email authentication setup. Regularly review your DMARC reports to ensure compliance.
Marketer from Email Geeks clarifies that Google rejecting emails due to "rate limit exceeded" usually indicates sending too fast. To determine if Google is rejecting messages due to DMARC, one must examine the DMARC aggregate reports.
Marketer from Email Geeks refers to a SocketLabs article on preventive measures to protect email deliverability from DKIM replay attacks.
Email marketer from Reddit explains that a common cause of DMARC failures is email forwarding, which breaks SPF. To mitigate this, ensure your DMARC policy is set to 'quarantine' or 'reject' only when you are confident in your email authentication setup. Educate users about the impact of forwarding on authentication.
Marketer from Email Geeks explains that while including CC headers in DKIM signing is not essential, it doesn't hurt. He advises against over-signing headers added during legitimate message forwarding, such as Received or Resent-* headers.
Email marketer from SendGrid shares that to troubleshoot DMARC authentication issues, verify that your SPF record includes all the IP addresses and domains you use to send emails. Check your DKIM signature to ensure it is valid and properly aligned with your sending domain. Monitor DMARC reports and use them to identify and resolve any authentication failures.
Email marketer from MXToolbox suggests using their tool to diagnose email delivery issues, including DMARC failures. The tool provides insights into DNS records, mail server configurations, and authentication settings to help identify and fix problems.
Email marketer from EmailonAcid suggests using online DMARC record testing tools to validate the syntax and accuracy of your DMARC records. These tools can help identify any errors or misconfigurations that may be causing authentication failures.
Email marketer from StackExchange explains that to ensure proper SPF and DKIM alignment, your 'From' address domain must match the domain used in your SPF and DKIM records. Use the 'd=domain' tag in your DKIM signature to specify the domain used for signing. Regularly audit your SPF and DKIM records to ensure they are up-to-date.
What the experts say2Expert opinions
Expert from Spam Resource, John Levine, explains the importance of properly setting up and testing DMARC records using tools like dmarcian and easydmarc to validate the setup and identify potential issues, before enforcing stricter DMARC policies.
Expert from Word to the Wise, Laura Atkins, shares that detecting DKIM replay attacks requires close monitoring of sending patterns, paying attention to geographical anomalies, and examining message headers for inconsistencies indicating a replay attempt.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from DMARC.org explains that to interpret DMARC reports, analyze the aggregate reports (RUA) to understand the compliance rate of your emails. Investigate any authentication failures by examining forensic reports (RUF) for detailed information about the failing emails. Use this information to adjust your email authentication setup and sending practices.
Documentation from RFC Editor explains that DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) is specified in RFC 7489. The document details the technical aspects of DMARC, including policy discovery, authentication checks, and reporting mechanisms. Adhering to this specification ensures interoperability and proper implementation of DMARC.
Documentation from Google explains that to troubleshoot DMARC failures, check your DMARC reports to identify the source of the failures. Ensure your SPF and DKIM records are properly configured and aligned with your DMARC policy. Verify that your email sending practices are compliant with authentication standards.
Documentation from Microsoft explains that to mitigate DKIM replay attacks, implement strict SPF and DKIM policies. Regularly monitor your email traffic for anomalies. Use anti-spoofing protection features available in Microsoft Defender for Office 365 to detect and block suspicious emails.