{"id":90770,"date":"2023-09-21T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-21T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/honeybook-blog.site.strattic.io\/?p=90770"},"modified":"2023-09-21T07:28:01","modified_gmt":"2023-09-21T14:28:01","slug":"what-is-dkim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hbb.dev.reliablepenguin.com\/blog\/what-is-dkim","title":{"rendered":"What is DKIM and how does it work?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is DKIM authentication? Learn about what DKIM signatures are and how they can help secure your messages.<\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Spoofing is one of the most common scams that impact businesses and consumers alike. This is when a hacker hides their true email and uses a company\u2019s domain email, and often some very convincing visuals, to fool its customers into providing personal information.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This practice creates some serious issues. Cyber scams have resulted in more than $10 billion<\/a> in annual losses, many of them attributed to spoofing. The good news is that there are ways to protect your brand and your clients from email-related scams. One of the most effective is known as DKIM authentication.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jump to:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • What is DKIM?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • DKIM signa<\/a>t<\/a>ures<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • DKIM selectors<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Why is a DKIM important?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n\n

    What is DKIM?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Domain keys identified mail (DKIM) is a type of email authentication. Its function is to guarantee that nothing has intercepted or tampered with the email the end user receives\u2014in other words, that hackers haven\u2019t intercepted the email to make changes to the \u201cfrom\u201d address in an attempt to scam the receiver. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How does DKIM authentication work? <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    DKIM authentication works by giving an email recipient a way to verify that it actually came from the authorized sender. To do so, emails that use DKIM authentication include a cryptographic signature (an encrypted header) added to each message. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So, how does the receiver decrypt the header, or DKIM signature, to verify the authenticity of the sender?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The domain owner adds a DKIM record, also known as the DKIM key, to its domain name system<\/a> (DNS) record. The domain owner can choose to add as many DKIM records as they\u2019d like without a need for any special certifications. The email recipient\u2019s server can access this record and use its public key to decrypt the header\u2019s DKIM signature, thereby verifying its authenticity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Keep in mind, DKIM doesn\u2019t offer end-to-end encryption. It simply proves the message left the sending server and made it to the receiving server without being intercepted and tampered with. The only encryption involved in DKIM authentication is the encrypted DKIM signature in the email\u2019s header. <\/p>\n\n\n\n