Definition
DMARC policy
The DMARC policy is the p= tag of a DMARC record; it takes three values. none observes without acting, quarantine files the message as junk, reject has it refused during the SMTP conversation. Only reject actually stops a spoofed message from arriving.
p=none is a starting point, not a protection: it asks receiving servers to report back to you, and nothing else. It is by far the most common value we find on small-firm domains, and it explains the gap between “we have DMARC” and “we are protected”.
p=quarantine puts the message in the recipient's junk folder. It is therefore still delivered, and can still be read. p=reject makes the receiving server refuse the message during the SMTP conversation: it never enters the mailbox at all. The sp= tag applies a different policy to subdomains.
- Also known as
- p=, p=none, p=quarantine, p=reject, DMARC policy
- Standard
- RFC 7489, §6.3