DMARC

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) is an email authentication protocol that builds on SPF and DKIM to provide stronger sender verification and protect your domain from being used in email spoofing and phishing attacks. For financial services, DMARC protects both your brand and your prospects.

How DMARC Works

DMARC

• Checks if email passes SPF or DKIM authentication
• Verifies sending domain matches 'From' address domain
• Applies policy you set (quarantine, reject, or monitor failures)
• Sends reports showing authentication results and potential abuse

Why Financial Advisors Need DMARC

DMARC benefits include

• Protects your domain from being impersonated in phishing emails
• Improves email deliverability to prospects
• Builds trust with email providers
• Provides visibility into who's sending from your domain
• Prevents brand damage from spoofed emails
• Required by many enterprise email systems

DMARC Policies

Three policy options

• None (monitor only, no action taken)
• Quarantine (send suspicious emails to spam)
• Reject (block suspicious emails completely) Start with 'none' to monitor, then gradually move to stricter policies.

Implementing DMARC

Set up DMARC by

• First implementing SPF and DKIM
• Creating DMARC record in DNS
• Starting with monitoring policy
• Reviewing reports to identify legitimate senders
• Gradually tightening policy
• Monitoring deliverability and reports DMARC is increasingly important as email providers crack down on spoofing and phishing. Financial services firms should implement DMARC to protect their brand and improve deliverability.

Examples

• A financial planner implementing DMARC discovering several phishing attempts using their domain, now blocked
• An RIA improving email deliverability after implementing full SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication stack
• A wealth manager's DMARC reports revealing legacy system sending unauthenticated emails, prompting correction