MailSafi Glossary of Terms

DKIM

Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM) is an email authentication method that allows the receiver to verify that the email was indeed sent and authorized by the domain owner. This is done by giving the email a digital signature. This DKIM signature is a header that is added to each outgoing message and secured with encryption.

Once the receiving system determines that an email is signed with a valid DKIM signature, it’s certain that parts of the email among which the message body and attachments haven’t been modified. DKIM signatures are not visible to end users. The validation is done on a server level.

DKIM is designed to detect forged sender addresses in emails (email spoofing), a method typically used in phishing and email spam. It does this by verifying that an email claimed to have come from a specific domain was indeed authorized by the owner of that domain.