What Does It Mean To Be DMARC Compliant?

If you’re not sure if your email domain is DMARC compliant, here are some guidelines you can follow to be sure.

4/21/20251 min read

1. You’ve Implemented SPF and DKIM

DMARC relies on two existing technologies:

SPF (Sender Policy Framework): Confirms the sender is allowed to send mail on behalf of your domain.

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): Verifies that the message was not altered and comes from an authorized source.

To be DMARC compliant, emails must pass either SPF or DKIM (or both) and align with the domain in the "From" header.

2. You’ve Published a DMARC Record

This is a DNS TXT record that:

Tells mail servers how to handle unauthenticated messages (none, quarantine, or reject)

Enables reporting, so you can monitor misuse of your domain

Example DMARC record:

3. You’re Monitoring Reports

Being compliant also means you’re monitoring DMARC reports to track:

Who’s sending on behalf of your domain

Whether messages are passing SPF/DKIM

If unauthorized senders are attempting to spoof you

4. You’ve Set a Policy (ideally “p=reject”)

There are 3 policy levels:

p=none: Just monitor (not protected yet)

p=quarantine: Unauthenticated messages go to spam

p=reject: The strongest setting—unauthenticated messages are blocked completely

True DMARC compliance typically means you’ve reached p=reject and your sent emails pass SPF or DKIM consistently.

Why It Matters:

Protects your brand from phishing and spoofing

Improves deliverability by proving you're a legitimate sender

May be required by email providers like Google and Yahoo for bulk senders (as of 2024)

Please reach our if you’d like to learn more about how Cloud Security Solutions can help.