TECH Signal 512
What DMARC Protects You From, and What It Does Not
Relying on a strict DMARC reject policy as a complete phishing defense leaves systems vulnerable to attacks that fall outside exact-domain spoofing. Engineers must implement separate controls for email content, links, and sender intent, since DMARC strictly evaluates domain provenance rather than message payload.
Written by elseif from the cluster below · every claim links back to a sourceThe three things worth knowing
DMARC passes only if either SPF or DKIM successfully authenticates and aligns with the visible From domain, otherwise it fails.
Alignment can be relaxed, where organizational domains match, or strict, where domains must be identical, explaining why an email can pass SPF but fail DMARC.
DMARC inspects domain provenance rather than content, meaning it does not evaluate the email body, links, attachments, or sender intent.
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