Cybercriminals frequently employ email spoofing as a strategy to trick users into believing a communication is from a reliable source. This frequently occurs before phishing attempts, which are attempts to obtain private data, including passwords, usernames, and bank account information. Domain Lockdown is a useful tool for stopping email spoofing.

Before beginning let’s see what is Domain Lockdown

Domain Lockdown is a security measure that restricts which mail servers are authorized to send emails on behalf of your domain. You may drastically lower the danger of spoofing and other email-based risks by defining and enforcing stringent regulations about who can send emails using your domain name. Three essential technologies are usually used to accomplish this: DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance), and SPF (Sender Policy Framework).

What are the benefits of using Domain Lockdown?

• Enhanced Email Security: Protects your domain reputation and prevents unauthorized email sending.
• Reduces Spam and Phishing: By ensuring that only legitimate emails are sent using your
• domain, it decreases the chances of your domain being used in spam and phishing attacks.
• Increased Customer Trust: Builds confidence in your email communications.
• Enhances Email Deliverability: By lowering the possibility that your emails may be regarded as spam, putting in place a domain lockdown might enhance your email deliverability rates.

Now we can move on to the steps to Implement Domain Lockdown

1. Set Up SPF Record

As you are using MailChannels as the email relay service, the SPF record for the domain
needs to have “include:relay.mailchannels.net ~all”.

To enable the Domain Lockdown

In the following pattern _mailchannels.yourdomain.com create a DNS TXT record, make
sure to replace yourdomain.com with your domain name.

In the DNS TXT record, you must add
v=mc1 auth=your_MailChannels_account_ID

You can also enable lock down to two different providers using;
v=mc1 auth=your_MailChannels_account_ID
auth=differentprovider
Instead of auth_ID, you can also use “senderid” or “cfid”

The TXT record would be: in order to lock the domain to a certain MailChannels
Sender-ID string, (eg: auth_ID|x-authuser|myusername.)
v=mc1 senderid=auth_ID|x-authuser|myusername

Use the following syntax to lock the domain to a certain Cloudflare Workers account:
v=mc1 cfid=myapp.workers.dev

2. Implement DKIM

DKIM enables you to digitally sign the headers of your emails. The recipient mail server can confirm that the email was delivered by an authorized server and hasn’t been tampered with thanks to this signature.

3. Configure DMARC

DMARC allows domain owners to establish policies about what to do with emails that don’t pass DKIM or SPF tests, which expands on SPF and DKIM. Additionally, it allows reporting, which lets you keep an eye on how well your email authentication is working.

Once you have implemented SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, it’s crucial to monitor the reports you receive. You can learn more about the usage of your domain and whether any genuine emails are being banned via these reports. You may assure maximum protection without interfering with valid email traffic by adjusting your settings as needed depending on these findings.

This is how we make use of Domain Lockdown against spoofing.

Conclusion

Domain Lockdown is a critical step in safeguarding your domain and protecting your customers from email-based attacks. Regularly monitor the reports to fine-tune your settings and maintain a robust defense against email-based threats. You can greatly lower the chance of spoofing and increase brand trust by combining it with other email security measures.