Email authentication

Major mail service providers (MSPs) require volume senders (those wanting to deliver more than a few messages daily to the MSP users) to adopt at least one email authentication system. This is so that the MSP can readily identify the sender and apply the relevant reputation settings. If this requirement is ignored, messages from the sender are progressively deprioritized.

Each MSP is free to select the email authentication technology that they prefer and unfortunately, the technology is not always easy to understand and implement.

SmartRelay and email authentication technology

SmartRelay implements all the necessary authentication technologies, including DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) signing, to ensure that your emails are not deprioritized.

DKIM signing

DKIM is an Internet standard technology originally defined by RFC4871. The current standard is RFC6376.

A DKIM signature is a special cryptographic message signature, which is generated by using the private component of an asymmetric encryption-based public/private key pair. The resulting signature is added to the message by the DKIM-signature header. A recipient can then validate the signature by applying the public component of the key pair, which is available as a DNS text record.

We generate the signature for each and every outbound SmartRelay message, and add it to the DKIM-signature header for you.

The private/public key pair is created by us and the private component is stored securely on our servers. You will then delegate the sender domain to Contactlab for us to manage it for you.

The same applies to other authentication technologies, such as Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and SenderId, if required.