What are Email Security Protocols and How to Use Them?

With billions of individuals everywhere in the world using emails each day, you may feel that email is a safe means of communication. Sadly, with many security defects, it isn't. Technicians and experts have been working on solutions for these defects for a long time now.

Some of these threats and defects can be identified as phishing emails and dangerous attachments like viruses or malware, in addition to some technical flaws in the way that emails work. These permit aggressors to get access and exploit email messages and misuse company and business email areas for fraud.

Here is one example of a problem that may occur with emails: Email forgery.

With normal mail, the person sending can put anyone's name and address down as the sender. The postal service delivers the mail to the recipient without verifying the sender's identity. In addition, since the mail is handled by multiple different people at different stages, potentially anyone can read and modify the content. The same can happen with emails. The most dangerous might be committing fraud with a company's email. This is why domain owners can and should take precautions and protect their domains.

The most well-known mechanisms for email security are SPF, DKIM, DMARC, BIMI, ARC, DANE, MTA-STS, STARTTLS Everywhere and TLS-RPT.

This article will explain the following mechanisms: Sender Policy Framework (SPF), DomainKeys Mail Identity (DKIM), Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) and BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification). Each mechanism protects a different aspect of the email.

SPF

What is SPF?

SPF, also known as Sender Policy Framework, is a method for email authentication that allows domain owners to authorize the hosts that can send emails on their behalf. SPF helps in protecting domains from spoofing and ensures messages are delivered correctly. Servers that get emails from your domain use SPF to verify that messages coming from your domain actually are from your domain.

How does it protect your email?

The SPF authentication method is designed to reduce spam and malicious messages by making it harder to hide the sender's identity. SPF tools detect email interception by providing a permission check process to send emails on your behalf. SPF improves delivery rates, protects domain integrity and reputation, and increases user reliability and trust.

Configuring secure DKIMs

What is DKIM?

DKIM is an acronym for DomainKeys Identified Mail, also known as email signing. DKIM allows you to take responsibility for the sent message. It is a digital signature that receiving servers can verify. In case of any amendment to the message during transit, the result will be failure in verification. DKIM aims to prove that the contents of an email has not been meddled with and nothing has changed, as well as to prove that the sender of the email owns the domain.

How should DKIM be used?

We recommend that you use a DKIM to enable EasyDMARC to sign outgoing email messages sent on behalf of the company. These signatures provide the recipient with the assurance that the email was being managed in accordance with company policy.

DMARC

What is DMARC?

Domain Based Authentication, Reporting, and Message Consistency (DMARC) is an email authentication, policy, and reporting protocol. It is built on top of the Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and DomainKeys Mail Identity (DKIM) protocols.

How does it protect?

If none of these validation methods pass, DMARC policy determines what to do with the message. EasyDMARC supports and recommends the DMARC policy. You decide whether to implement it in your domain.

BIMI

What is BIMI?

BIMI aka Brand Indicators for Message Identification, is a relatively new player in the game. This emerging standard allows you to easily get your logo displayed next to your message in the receiver's inbox. By doing so, subscribers and/or receivers of the emails can quickly identify your messages and trust the source.

How does BIMI work?

BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) permits Domain Owners to coordinate with Mail User Agents (MUAs) to display brand-specific Indicators next to properly authenticated messages. There are two aspects of BIMI coordination: a scalable mechanism for Domain Owners to publish their desired indicators, and a mechanism for Mail Transfer Agents (MTAs) to verify the authenticity of the indicator.

Final thoughts

Despite being a vital tool in our everyday life, used by 3.8 billion people, emails can still cause harm if not protected. The harm can be personal or on a business level and the consequences vary depending on the threats.

Using the tools presented in this article are a simple yet effective way to prevent all danger and threats from occurring, as well as stopping potential aggressors and attackers from causing any unwanted problems.