Unfortunately, it’s also one of the easiest ways for cybercriminals to target businesses.
Across Australia, email impersonation and phishing scams continue to rise, with many attacks now specifically designed to look like they’re coming from legitimate businesses. In many cases, the business being impersonated doesn’t even realise it’s happening until a customer calls to query a suspicious email.
Two of the most effective ways to protect your business from this type of risk are DKIM and DMARC. While the names can sound technical, the principles behind them are straightforward - and understanding them is an important step in improving your overall cyber resilience.
Why Email Authentication Is So Important
When an email arrives in someone’s inbox, their email provider needs to answer a simple question: Can this sender be trusted?
Without proper authentication in place, email systems are forced to guess. That’s when problems start to occur, such as:
- Fake emails being sent using your business name
- Customers receiving phishing emails that appear legitimate
- Genuine business emails being sent to spam folders
- Reduced trust in your domain over time
Email authentication helps remove that guesswork. This is where DKIM and DMARC come in.
What Is DKIM?
DKIM, or DomainKeys Identified Mail, is a method used to confirm that an email really was sent by the domain it claims to be from and that it hasn’t been altered along the way.
A helpful way to think about DKIM is as a digital signature applied to every email your business sends.
When your email system sends a message, it adds a hidden signature to that email. When the recipient’s email provider receives it, the signature is checked against your domain’s records.
If the signature matches, the email passes the test.
DKIM in Plain English
Think of DKIM like a seal of authenticity on your emails.
- It confirms the email genuinely came from your domain
- It confirms the content hasn’t been changed in transit
- It helps the receiving systems trust your messages
This process happens automatically in the background. Your staff and customers never see it, but email systems rely on it heavily when deciding whether to deliver an email or flag it as suspicious.
Why DKIM Matters for Businesses
Without DKIM in place, it’s much easier for someone else to send emails that look like they came from your business.
This can lead to:
- Invoice redirection scams
- Fake payment requests
- Emails impersonating directors or finance staff
- Damage to customer trust
From a deliverability perspective, email providers are also more cautious with domains that don’t use DKIM. This can result in legitimate emails being delayed or filtered out altogether.
DKIM helps protect both your reputation and your day‑to‑day communication.
What Does Implementing DKIM Involve?
From a business point of view, DKIM is not something you manage manually.
Implementation typically involves:
- Generating a DKIM record from your email platform (such as Microsoft 365)
- Adding that record to your domain’s DNS settings
- Allowing your email system to automatically sign outgoing emails
Once configured, DKIM works quietly in the background, providing ongoing protection.
What Is DMARC?
DMARC, which stands for Domain based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance, builds on DKIM and takes email security a step further.
If DKIM proves an email is legitimate, DMARC tells email providers what to do when an email fails those checks.
In simple terms, DMARC gives you control over how your domain is protected.
Understanding DMARC Without the Jargon
DMARC acts like a set of instructions attached to your domain.
It tells email providers:
- How to handle emails that fail authentication
- Whether suspicious emails should be monitored, quarantined or rejected
- Where to send reports about email activity using your domain
Without DMARC, email providers are left to decide how to handle failed emails themselves. With DMARC, you set the rules.
How DMARC Protects Your Brand
One of the biggest benefits of DMARC is protection against impersonation.
When DMARC is correctly configured:
- Criminals are far less able to send emails pretending to be your business
- Phishing attempts using your domain are blocked or flagged
- Email providers gain confidence in your domain
- You gain visibility into who is sending email on your behalf
This is particularly important for businesses that send invoices, payment details or sensitive information by email.
DMARC and Email Deliverability
There is also a practical benefit many businesses don’t realise: better email delivery.
Major email providers like Microsoft and Google increasingly expect domains to have DMARC in place. Domains without it are more likely to experience:
- Emails landing in junk folders
- Reduced delivery rates
- Messages being rejected entirely
DMARC helps ensure that important emails such as quotes, invoices and client communications arrive where they’re supposed to.
What Does Implementing DMARC Look Like?
Implementing DMARC usually happens in stages:
- A DMARC record is added to your domain
- Email activity is monitored through reports
- Policies are gradually strengthened as confidence increases
This staged approach allows businesses to improve security without disrupting legitimate email flow.
While the underlying process is technical, the goal is simple: protect your domain while keeping business communication running smoothly.
Why DKIM and DMARC Work Best Together
DKIM and DMARC are designed to work as a pair.
- DKIM verifies emails are authentic
- DMARC enforces how failures are handled
Together, they significantly reduce the risk of email fraud and improve trust in your business communications.
Why This Matters for Australian Businesses
Australian businesses are increasingly targeted by cybercriminals because they are seen as trustworthy and often less protected than global enterprises.
Email based scams are one of the most common causes of financial loss for small and medium businesses. Many of these attacks rely on impersonation and that’s exactly what DKIM and DMARC are designed to stop.
Implementing these controls is a practical, cost‑effective way to strengthen your cyber security posture without adding complexity to daily operations.
What next?
Email security doesn’t have to be complicated to be effective.
Most businesses already rely on email every day, so it makes sense to protect it properly. DKIM and DMARC are not about adding extra work for your team or changing how you send emails. They work quietly in the background, helping to ensure your emails are trusted and your business can’t be easily impersonated.
For many organisations, these settings should already be in place - but they’re often overlooked or only partially configured. That’s usually not anyone’s fault. They sit behind the scenes, and if nothing appears to be broken, it’s easy to assume everything is fine.
The reality is that problems often only become visible after something goes wrong.
Taking the time to review your DKIM and DMARC setup is a simple, practical step that can reduce risk, improve email delivery and protect your brand’s reputation.
If you’re not sure where your current setup stands, or you’d like a second set of eyes on it, an experienced IT partner like FortiTech can help make sense of it all and ensure everything is configured properly without adding unnecessary complexity. Get in touch with us today to discuss how to secure your email.