The IT Nerd

I have clients who want me to come in and do something for them. Set up a NAS, set up computers, etc. But I have other clients who want me to point them in the right direction. Then I get out of the way and let them carry it forward. Ironically, I was dealing with a client who wanted to not only make sure that their emails were going to get delivered to their recipients, but to keep things like scam and phishing attempts out of their inbox. One of the ways that we achieved both goals was to implement DMARC. And I pointed them towards a very good on line reference that I found for guiding you towards implementing DMARC. That reference is called The DMARC Academy. And to be completely honest, I wish I had this when I was implementing DMARC on both of my domains in the last year or so.

Before I go down what DMARC academy is, a quick refresher about what DMARC is and why you should care. In simple terms, DMARC is like a digital checkpoint for your emails that confirms they are from the correct organization and not someone pretending to be you. Or your company. So if you want to guarantee that emails are going to get from point A to B, you need to implement DMARC. In fact, Yahoo, Google and Microsoft require it. Which means that other organizations will require it as well. But it goes beyond deliverability of email. DMARC can help to keep things like phishing attempts out of your inbox because it will validate that an email that is intended for your inbox is coming from a source that is likely to be trustworthy. For example, about 90% of phishing and scam attempts that are directed towards me end up in the junk mail folder. While I have a quick look to make sure that nothing that shouldn’t be in there ended up in there, they get deleted and I remain safe from phishing.

Now I could help you implement DMARC, but the reality is that if you have administrative access to your email server, you could likely do it yourself if you educated yourself as to what you need to do and why. That’s where The DMARC Academy come in. These are free courses that educate you about what DMARC is and how it works. And guides you down a path to help you to implement DMARC. Not to mention related technologies like SPF and DKIM. And all of this comes from the people who invented DMARC. By the time you are done with these courses, you should be in a place where you should be able to implement DMARC on your own. Though as I always say, if you’re unsure about something, you should consult a professional before you do anything. But you likely won’t have to do that as when I looked at these courses, they are clear and comprehensive.

The DMARC academy is something that I would strongly recommend to anyone who is implementing DMARC. It’s an excellent resource that should be considered as mandatory reading if you’re responsible for email in your organization.

Founded in 2012 by the primary author of the DMARC specification, dmarcian is mission-driven to upgrading the entire world’s email by making DMARC accessible to all with free resources, educational guides, superior tooling and knowledgeable deployment support. They bring together thousands of senders, vendors, and operators in a common effort to build DMARC into the email ecosystem. By staying focused on its mission, dmarcian is able to continue to discover the challenges that everyone faces while deploying DMARC and help make the process as easy as possible.

Best in Class Tooling
dmarcian was formed at the birth of DMARC, offering the first public tooling to help people understand and deploy the control effectively. They created dmarc.io as a free, comprehensive listing of sources (any entity that can send email on behalf of a domain), and their capabilities to support DMARC, DKIM and SPF. Such clarity allows for deployment without disrupting an organization’s most vital business resource—their email.

Their powerful SaaS platform takes reports generated by DMARC and enhances them with its powerful source-classification engine, giving clear insight and actionable steps for a smooth deployment. The DMARC Management Platform offers extensive alerting and reporting so organizations are able to keep their domain catalogs safe and to efficiently deploy new email-based services. 

DMARC Academy
To advance their mission, dmarcian launched DMARC Academy, the first free, comprehensive DMARC curriculum, in May 2022. DMARC Academy provides an opportunity to understand DMARC and its underlying technologies, SPF and DKIM, and how to effectively deploy these technologies across organizations of all sizes to protect domains from phishing and abuse.

Proudly Independent & Self-Funded
dmarcian has expert staff around the world. With offices in key locations covering the Americas, EMEA, and APAC, they are able to meet people where they are and in their time zones while data remains local and in compliance with regulations. 

As a self-funded organization with a mission to help people deploy DMARC, dmarcian concentrates on making email more trustworthy by helping the people who are doing the real work of making it safe—not venture capitalists or investors. Being mission-driven advocates for safer and more reliable email has made dmarcian a trusted advisor among governments and working groups globally. 

Business as a Force for Good
dmarcian is a certified B Corporation, reflecting their values and operating principles upon which they were founded. B Corp certification is to sustainable business what Fair Trade certification is to coffee or USDA Organic certification is to produce. dmarcian continues to stand as stewards to the environment, their employees, and the communities they serve.

“It’s one thing to be part of a successful company, but when we use that success for the greater good—to connect to each other, to the community around us, and to the larger environment—it elevates that success beyond bettering ourselves and turns it into lasting change for a better world,” says Ehrow Draegen, dmarcian Chief Executive Officer.