G Suite, now known as Google Workspace, is the preferred email suite for many business organizations. However, it is also vulnerable to cyberattack attempts from malicious actors. Setting up email authentication protocols like DMARC on Google Workspace can help prevent malicious attacks and guarantee email delivery to ensure business continuity.

Many businesses rely on emails for business correspondence as it enhances convenience levels. However, it is tied to cyber-risks, such as phishing, spoofing, BEC, etc. Malicious actors use your email domain to send phishing emails, damaging your business reputation. Setting up a Gmail DMARC policy helps prevent adversaries from using your email domain to infect your network systems.

What is DMARC?

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, & Conformance) is a free and open technical specification and standard for email authentication. It aligns with SPF and DKIM mechanisms to authenticate emails. DMARC uses three policies to inform the world on how to handle unauthorized use of your email domains. These policies are ‘p=none,’ ‘p=quarantine,’ and ‘p=reject.’ They monitor your emails, divert fake emails to the spam folder, and ensure that unauthorized emails never get delivered to your inbox.

How to Set Up DMARC – GSuite?

Below are instructions that show how to set up DMARC for G Suite (now known as Google Workspace). However, before setting up DMARC, it is essential to set up SPF and DKIM mechanisms, as DMARC functions in conjunction with these techniques.

  • Setting Up SPF

An SPF record lists all IP addresses allowed to send emails on your domain’s behalf. Therefore, an email sent from an IP address excluded from this safelist is considered spam. The following steps show how to set up SPF.

  • Log in to your domain’s DNS dashboard and access the page that enables updating DNS settings on that domain.
  • Check if it includes a TXT record with ‘v-spf1’. If the record exists, you should update it. Otherwise, you can create a new SPF record.
  • In the SPF record, insert an ‘Include’ mechanism before the terminating mechanism (‘~all’ or ‘-all’).
  • Create a TXT record ‘v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all’.
  • Setting Up DKIM

On setting up the SPF record, you must now set up DKIM before proceeding with G Suite DMARC. The DKIM mechanism uses a digital signature to verify that the emails have not been tampered with in transit. Here is how you set up DKIM authentication in G Suite.

  • Access Google Admin Console and log in.
  • Go to Apps à Google Workspace à Gmail
  • Click on ‘Authenticate email.’
  • Generating a new DKIM record requires clicking on ‘Generate New Record.’
  • Publish the DKIM record in the DNS. Sometimes, you cannot access the record until one hour.
  • Click ‘Start Authentication’ after the record is accessible.
  • Complete the authentication process by clicking on the ‘Save’ option.
  • Setting Up DMARC

Now that you have set up SPF and DKIM for G Suite, you can proceed with the Gmail DMARC setup. Setting up DMARC for Google ensures that illegitimate spoofing does not happen on your Gmail domain. Secondly, it improves email deliverability. Here is how you set up DMARC Policy Gmail, generate your DMARC record, and publish it in your G Suite DNS.

  • Log in to your account on Google and access ‘Google Admin Console.’
  • Proceed to ‘G Suite’ and click on the ‘Apps’ option.
  • Then, advance to ‘G Suite.’
  • Go to ‘Email Authentication settings’ and click on the ‘Authenticate Email’ option.
  • Click on ‘Generate new record’ and select DKIM key bit length and prefix selector. Finally, click on the ‘Generate’ option.
  • Enter the DNS TXT record on your domain’s DNS settings page.
  • Click on the ‘Start Authentication’ option.
  • Your DMARC records should now start appearing in around 72 hours.

How Does DMARC Work?

As mentioned earlier, implementing SPF and DKIM is essential for setting up DMARC on Google Workspace. DMARC authenticates if the email has passed SPF, DKIM, or both. This process is known as DMARC alignment. At times, the emails can pass SPF and DKIM but fail DMARC. Depending on the DMARC Policy, the email domain acts accordingly to send the email to the spam folder or inbox or reject it outright.

Malicious actors primarily use the email route to infiltrate network systems by sending phishing or spoofing emails. Without DMARC, it would be challenging to identify whether the email is genuine or false. Thus, DMARC helps domain owners to protect their network systems from cyberattack attempts. DMARC is unique because it replaces the fundamental ‘Filter-out bad email’ model with the ‘Filter-in good email’ model.

Advantages of Setting Up DMARC Google Workspace

DMARC is an excellent email authentication tool that ensures prompt delivery of genuine email that passes SPF and DKIM. However, at the same time, it sends suspicious emails to the spam inbox, depending on the DMARC policy. For example, suppose you set the ‘p=reject’ policy. In that case, the domain does not allow emails failing DMARC to enter the network system. Hence, it is an excellent method for foiling cyberattack attempts like spoofing, phishing, and BEC. Below are the advantages of a robust DMARC setup.

Provides maximum security – Setting up DMARC restricts unauthorized use of your domain and thus protects your systems, employees, and customers from spam, phishing, and other email fraud.

Increases visibility – DMARC Gmail enables your domain to identify who or what is sending emails using it across the internet.

Guaranteed delivery – A well-defined DMARC policy guarantees delivery of genuine emails into your inbox.

Establishes identity – DMARC enables easy identification of your emails, especially with the number of DMARC-capable receivers increasing daily.

Advantages of Setting Up DMARC Google Workspace

DMARC is an excellent email authentication tool that ensures prompt delivery of genuine email that passes SPF and DKIM. However, at the same time, it sends suspicious emails to the spam inbox, depending on the DMARC policy. For example, suppose you set the ‘p=reject’ policy. In that case, the domain does not allow emails failing DMARC to enter the network system. Hence, it is an excellent method for foiling cyberattack attempts like spoofing, phishing, and BEC. Below are the advantages of a robust DMARC setup.

  • Provides maximum security – Setting up DMARC restricts unauthorized use of your domain and thus protects your systems, employees, and customers from spam, phishing, and other email fraud.
  • Increases visibility – DMARC Gmail enables your domain to identify who or what is sending emails using it across the internet.
  • Guaranteed delivery – A well-defined DMARC policy guarantees delivery of genuine emails into your inbox.

Establishes identity – DMARC enables easy identification of your emails, especially with the number of DMARC-capable receivers increasing daily.

Final Words

Emails are indispensable for business communication today. However, threat actors use the email route to introduce malware into your network systems through phishing, spoofing, and BEC. Therefore, protecting your systems is critical to saving your business reputation and avoiding financial losses. DMARC is the best email authentication tool that helps filter out malicious emails and ensures the delivery of genuine communication.