Authenticate the senders your business actually uses
DMARC Protection addresses domain-authentication policy and its operation. The important starting point is a verified inventory of legitimate senders, not an immediate move to the strictest policy. Marketing platforms, payroll services, support tools and application relays may send on behalf of the organisation without appearing in the primary mail-server inventory.
Separate the domains you own from lookalike domains controlled by others. DMARC decisions relate to the authentication and policy of your sending domains; they do not automatically stop every form of impersonation. A domain with little visible activity can still have a critical occasional sender that must be assessed.
Tighten enforcement through evidence and ownership
Identify DNS owners and a technical contact for each third-party sender. Review available authentication evidence and confirm alignment requirements for the chosen sending arrangement. Introduce policy changes in approved stages, observing legitimate delivery before increasing enforcement.
The pilot should include business-critical sending systems and a controlled unauthorised example. Document how a new sender is onboarded and who approves exceptions, so the policy remains useful after the initial project. For a UAE group with several brands or legal entities, maintain a clear domain responsibility schedule. Handover should include sender records, DNS changes, unresolved sources and the process for reviewing authentication failures. No delivery or spoofing-prevention percentage should be promised without an appropriate measured basis.
Evidence to request for this scope
- Reconcile owned domains, DNS administration and all known authorised sending services.
- Validate representative mail authentication and delivery before and after each approved policy change.
- Establish ongoing sender onboarding, failure review and narrow exception ownership.