Email Security Services & Solutions

• Email authentication ensures that the sender is legitimate and authorized to send emails on behalf of a domain.
• Two common authentication methods are:
  • SPF (Sender Policy Framework): SPF allows a domain to list all authorized servers that can send emails on its behalf. It’s like an employee directory for email servers.
  • DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): DKIM enables domain owners to “sign” emails using cryptography, verifying their authenticity.

• Ensuring the integrity of email content is vital. No unauthorized modifications should occur during transmission.
• DKIM plays a role here by providing a digital signature that verifies the email’s origin.

• Authorization ensures that only authorized entities can send emails on behalf of a domain.
• SPF and DKIM help demonstrate legitimacy, like licenses displayed in an office.

• SPF records list IP addresses of servers authorized to send emails for a domain.
• Mail servers check incoming emails against SPF records to validate their authenticity.

Let’s break down this SPF record:

• v=spf1: This declares the version of SPF being used.
• mx: Allows the domain’s MX (Mail Exchange) servers to send emails.
• a: Allows the domain’s A record (IPv4 address) to send emails.
• include:_spf.google.com: Includes Google’s SPF record, authorizing Google’s servers to send emails on behalf of the domain.
• include:sendgrid.net: Includes SendGrid’s SPF record, authorizing SendGrid’s servers to send emails on behalf of the domain.
• include:sparkpostmail.com: Includes SparkPost’s SPF record, authorizing SparkPost’s servers to send emails on behalf of the domain.
• ~all: Specifies the default SPF policy as “soft fail”, which means that emails failing SPF validation should be treated with suspicion but not necessarily rejected. Alternatively, you could use -all to indicate a strict policy where emails failing SPF validation should be rejected.

• MX (Mail Exchange) records specify the mail servers responsible for receiving emails for a domain.
• These records guide email delivery to the correct destination.

Here’s an example of MX records for the domain “tkwebhosts.com”:

Let’s break down these MX records:

1. tkwebhosts.com. IN MX 10 mail.tkwebhosts.com.:
   • Priority: 10 (lower numbers indicate higher priority)
   • Mail Server: mail.tkwebhosts.com
2. tkwebhosts.com. IN MX 20 backup.mail.tkwebhosts.com.:
   • Priority: 20
   • Mail Server: backup.mail.tkwebhosts.com

These MX records specify that incoming emails for “tkwebhosts.com” should be routed to two different mail servers, with “mail.tkwebhosts.com” having higher priority than “backup.mail.tkwebhosts.com”. If the primary mail server is unavailable, emails will be routed to the backup mail server.

• DKIM uses public key cryptography to verify that an email came from the claimed domain.
• A domain’s private key signs the email’s header, and receiving servers verify it using the public key.

To set up DKIM for the domain “tkwebhosts.com”, you need to generate DKIM keys and add DKIM records to your DNS settings. Here’s an example of how DKIM records might look for “tkwebhosts.com”:

Let’s break down this DKIM record:

• default._domainkey.tkwebhosts.com.: This is the selector prefix used to indicate the DKIM key record. The “default” part is the selector, and “_domainkey” is a constant string.
• IN TXT: This specifies the DNS record type as TXT.
• "v=DKIM1; k=rsa; p=MIGfMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4GNADCBiQKBgQC7mNM9nM1bk6RtPE9pVL1d6jRvgdpw/TH3JXUgOwLfDwXWwDc/XTaBz0lj8sK9cXJth/03pAAdkfkfqQx6xJ0LNKQIkLac2NPkpbkKsYS+2RbYJz6dauhfhMscSyKgQhL3dE6g2bQwJb9fJplKXYuVesfm5wlYmfBgdn7nQIDAQAB": This is the DKIM public key itself, encoded as a string in the DNS TXT record.

Before adding DKIM records, you need to generate DKIM keys using your email server provider or a DKIM key generator tool. Once generated, you’ll typically add the public key to your DNS settings as shown above.

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) is an email authentication protocol that helps protect email domains from being used for email spoofing, phishing scams, and other malicious activities. It allows domain owners to specify how their email should be authenticated, what action should be taken if authentication fails, and how to receive reports about emails claiming to be from their domain.

• DMARC combines SPF and DKIM.
• It instructs receiving servers on how to handle emails that fail authentication.
• Actions include delivering the email, marking it as spam, or rejecting it outright.

To set up DMARC for the domain “tkwebhosts.com”, you would create a DMARC record in your DNS settings. Here’s an example of how a DMARC record might look for “tkwebhosts.com”:

Let’s break down this DMARC record:

• _dmarc.tkwebhosts.com.: This is the subdomain used for DMARC records.
• IN TXT: This specifies the DNS record type as TXT.
• "v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; rua=mailto:[email protected]; ruf=mailto:[email protected]; sp=quarantine; fo=1; pct=100; rf=afrf": This is the DMARC policy and configuration.

Explanation of DMARC tags in the record:

• v=DMARC1: This indicates the version of DMARC being used.
• p=quarantine: This specifies the DMARC policy action to be taken if an email fails DMARC authentication. In this example, it’s set to “quarantine”, meaning that failing emails should be treated as suspicious and may be placed in the recipient’s spam or quarantine folder.
• rua=mailto:[email protected]: This specifies the email address to which aggregate reports (summaries of DMARC activity) should be sent.
• ruf=mailto:[email protected]: This specifies the email address to which forensic reports (detailed reports about individual email messages) should be sent.
• sp=quarantine: This specifies the policy action to be taken for subdomains of tkwebhosts.com.
• fo=1: This specifies the format for generating forensic reports. A value of “1” indicates “generate a report if both SPF and DKIM authentication fail”.
• pct=100: This specifies the percentage of messages subjected to filtering based on the DMARC policy. Here, it’s set to 100%.
• rf=afrf: This indicates the format of the failure reports sent to the specified email addresses. “afrf” stands for “Authentication Failure Reporting Format”.

email encryption plays a crucial role in securing sensitive information transmitted via email. Transport Layer Security (TLS) encrypts email communication during transmission, preventing eavesdropping and interception of messages in transit. End-to-end encryption solutions like Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) or Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) encrypt email content from the sender’s client to the recipient’s client, ensuring that only authorized parties can access the message contents. Implementing strong encryption practices not only safeguards sensitive data but also enhances privacy and confidentiality in email communication, bolstering overall email security posture against various cyber threats.