Thinking of skipping the third-party vendor and taking your DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) implementation in-house?

The costs of internal implementation can be far greater than the IT expense of a expert-validated DMARC solution. 

DMARC implementation is a critical piece of your business’s security. Proper DMARC execution supports organizations in a number of ways, including: 

• Blocking catastrophic phishing & spoofing attacks upon your users

• Enhancing email deliverability for your communications and marketing

• Protecting brand reputation from malicious actors

• Delivering significant cost savings from insurers

• And more…

It may be tempting to task your in-house IT team to set up DMARC in order to cut costs– after all, how hard can it be? 

Here’s the reality: proper DMARC implementation requires expert-level know-how of all the ins and outs of email security, ongoing monitoring, and sophisticated reporting systems. One incorrect configuration or misstep and the impact can be disastrous. 

Why not DIY with a “free” provider?

This is a genuinely good question that both we and many of our email security peers receive.

The difference is pretty simple: “free” providers are only offering a mix of weekly DMARC report digests, very basic DMARC monitoring where you still need to review the report results (which are often very limited reports to boot) and/or have limits on how many DMARC reports they intake on your behalf.

What they are not doing is telling you is who your detected mail sources are, what you must do to get them authorized properly, how to get those authorizations in play (let alone walking you through the process via over-the-shoulder screen sharing, our standard methodology), handling the communications with your vendors on your behalf or monitoring and alerting you of time sensitive issues that need resolution, lest you be left unprotected.

These are all specific benefits that DMARC Director brings to the table over what any “free” provider does to support your already-overworked IT team.

Read on to learn about our top 9 reasons we recommend working with a professional DMARC vendor to strengthen your organization’s email security.

Leave it to the Experts

More than 18% of legitimate email senders haven’t implemented a DMARC policy, leaving them vulnerable to spoofing and BEC attacks, email interception, and low email deliverability rates. By working with a trusted DMARC provider, your organization can bypass this risk entirely. 

No complicated set-up, stressed IT teams, or misconfigurations. Fully protect your domain in days, instead of years or months.

Battle-Tested Experts

Each year, email hackers develop more sophisticated ways to attack unsuspecting businesses. An organization’s email security strategy needs to evolve at the same rate, staying as advanced and modern as the threats it protects against. 

Picture this: Your organization spends countless hours, resources, and manpower to set up a robust DMARC system, only for some small unforeseen error to send the whole system crashing down. It happens far, far more often than you’d think.

A specialized DMARC implementation partner understands the nuances and technologies needed for an airtight email security system. They’ll ensure that DMARC is set up correctly, avoid common configuration mistakes, and keep you updated on the latest security threats and industry changes.

Thousands in Cost Savings

Email impersonation attacks account for 1.2% of all email traffic daily– is your organization ready for the cost of a breach? 

The financial impact of a email attack can bring even the largest organization to its knees. 

• Cyber Extortion Costs: Cyber extortion is increasingly on the rise, wherein a large sum of payment is demanded in order to return access to an organization’s data, systems, and more. These payments are often astronomical, leaving organizations at a standstill until they are able to pay. 

• Operational Disruption: After a breach, daily operations can come to a screeching halt as focus turns to finding the cause, fixing the problem, and assessing impact. 

• Loss of Reputation: After an attack, damage to a company’s reputation rises rapidly. The cost of PR campaigns, refunds, and gaining back a lost customer base is often overwhelming. 

• Legal Fees: Legal representation fees can begin to mount after a successful attack if privacy law violations have occurred. 

A single business compromise incident, on average, costs organizations $8,000-$200,000+ to repair. By investing in solid email security from trusted vendors, organizations can avoid the cost of a breach and the tremendous repercussions it has on the business’s future prospects.

Conserve Internal Resources 

If you’ve ever launched a new IT business initiative, you know that it’s no small feat.

To establish DMARC, an internal IT team would need to spend months learning the intricacies of email security, implementing a full stack (DMARC, SPF, DKIM, BIMI, etc), then setting up reporting and alert mechanisms. 

Why spend your team’s limited resources on email security, when you could focus on building new products, marketing campaigns, and strengthening customer relationships? Working with an established DMARC provider allows empowers organizations to grow without being “bogged down” by technical implementation projects– leave it to the experts!

Protect Brand Reputation

Successful businesses are built on relationships– few things are more important than brand reputation and trust. 

Protect the relationship between your brand and your customers, employees, vendors, and shareholders. By preventing phishing attacks, protecting sensitive data, and strengthening security measures, organizations develop a trustworthy reputation. 

Once trust is broken, it’s almost impossible to recover.

No matter the sales strategy, marketing campaign, or PR rollout, an organization may never recapture their brand reputation after a breach. When implemented correctly, DMARC protects your organization’s integrity. 

Comprehensive, Ongoing Monitoring 

DMARC isn’t a “set it and forget it” security solution.

To maintain a thriving domain, IT teams must constantly analyze potential threats, neutralize suspicious actors, and authorize correct senders.

With a trusted third-party vendor, there’s no need to establish a full email security and data analysis team. View your email security ecosystem at a glance with a fully integrated live dashboard. 

Meet Regulatory & Cyber Insurance Requirements 

Want to qualify for cybersecurity insurance? Providers often require that policyholders implement a robust DMARC system prior to coverage.

Regulatory requirements can also change year-over-year, mandating that organizations quickly adapt to new email security requirements. 

Government Agencies

Mandated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), government agency domains are now required to establish DMARC with a policy of at least P=None

PCI-DSS 4.0

Starting in the Spring of 2025, DMARC will be required for PCI (Payment Card Industry) assessments. All companies that store, process, or transmit cardholder data can face penalties of $5,000-$100,000 for non-compliance. 

Working with a DMARC provider guarantees that your organization’s email security will always meet regulatory best practices.

Improve Email Deliverability

Major email service providers like Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo have recently introduced new requirements for all senders. 

Depending on the volume of emails sent daily, domains may required to set up DMARC, adhere to SPF & DKIM guidelines, implement one-click unsubscribe, and more.

 If these guidelines are not met, providers may:

• Limit sending rates

• Reject messages entirely

• Flag legitimate messages as spam

• And more…

For sales and marketing teams that rely on email for customer communication, low deliverability can be catastrophic.

As email provider requirements continue to evolve, it’s critical that organizations are informed and flexible enough to adjust their email ecosystem as needed. A third-party DMARC provider takes on this responsibility, creating one less item to track for busy teams. 

To learn more about email sending requirements, click here. 

Support When You Need It

Encounter a threat or email sending error? Don’t let it send your organization into a tailspin. 

Third-party DMARC providers help you troubleshoot and resolve problems quickly, right when they occur. Enjoy peace of mind, avoid downtime, and deploy internal resources on other projects. 

Grow With Confidence

With an ironclad, adaptable DMARC solution, organizations can scale with confidence. Quickly add new domains, subdomains, business lines, and email marketing channels as needed– knowing that your email security can handle it all.