2024 Email Authentication Standards: Elevating Security with Google and Yahoo

In contemporary email communication, email authentication plays a pivotal role in mitigating email fraud, spam, and phishing attacks. Brace yourself for a new level of security. Starting February 2024, Gmail and Yahoo will be implementing robust email authentication requirements to combat harmful messages and emphasize the crucial role of data security. This measure aims to prevent restrictions on sending rates, message blocking, and marking messages as spam.

Who will experience the effects? 

The updated security guidelines apply to all users, particularly those who send 5000 or more than 5000 emails per day from ZOHO DESK. Not following these guidelines may lead to email delivery delays, blocked messages, or the categorization of emails as spam.

Not to worry. We are here to support you with the best possible solutions.

Basic details that every sender should be aware of

 

To safeguard your path in 2024, it is mandatory to follow the fundamental requirements, beginning with email authentications.

When utilizing a Gmail domain in the 'From' address, it is essential to configure the address with its dedicated SMTP for ensuring accurate mail delivery.

For recipients on gmail.com or googlemail.com, it is recommended to publish DMARC for the sender domain to enhance prompt mail delivery. 

Verify with your own SMTP 

In adherence to the new guidelines, reply emails sent from Zoho Desk with From addresses belonging to gmail.com, googlemail.com, to any domains may be bounced or marked as spam. Therefore, we kindly request all customers to configure these From addresses with your own SMTP verification and use TLS for transmitting email rather than Zoho SMTP. If the From addresses were verified previously with your own SMTP, we will continue using the same authentication for all notification emails sent from Zoho Desk.

Rolling out SPF & DKIM  

SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) are vital email authentication protocols that protect against spam, phishing, and spoofing. SPF verifies the authenticity of emails from your domain, while DKIM confirms their source by validating authorized servers associated with sending domains. These protocols work together to validate emails, ensuring that they originate from legitimate sources and have not been tampered with during transmission. This implementation enhances the overall security of your email communications by reducing the risk of email spoofing, phishing, and other malicious activities. 

Minimal Spam Rate 

Maintain spam rates below 0.10% and ensure they never exceed 0.30% for optimal email deliverability.

More about Guidelines for all senders

Essential  Requirements for Users Sending 5000 or More Emails Daily 

Implement DMARC Policy 

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance) is an authentication technique that leverages the Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) to authenticate emails. This helps in preventing forging emails and engaging in unauthorized activities through them.

 How DMARC Works: 

1: Publish the DMARC policy outlining instructions for mailbox providers' receiving servers on how to handle emails that breach the policy.

2: Authenticate your sender domain by implementing SPF and DKIM.

3: The receiving server will apply the DMARC policy and execute the instructions specified in the policy.

4: The receiving server will send a report detailing how it handled the email to the reporting email address specified in the DMARC record.

Sample: DMARC record

v=DMARC1\; p=none\; rua=mailto:dmarc-aggregate@mydomain.com\; ruf=mailto:dmarc-afrf@mydomain.com\; pct=100

v: Signifies the DMARC version in use.

p: Signifies the policy established by the business.

rua: Specifies the URI for sending a consolidated report, including information on SPF and DKIM validation results, details about the sending and receiving domains, and the percentage of successful authentications.

ruf: Specifies the email address where the comprehensive SPF/DKIM failure report will be delivered.

pct: Denotes the percentage of emails subject to the policy application.

To prevent emails from being marked as spam, bounced, or experiencing delays in delivery, it is mandatory to set your policy (p) to none in DMARC record. “p = none”

If the policy (p) is set to "quarantine" or "reject," the emails will either be redirected to the spam folder or will not be delivered to the recipient, respectively. 

Ensure DMARC Alignment 

DMARC alignment pertains to the uniformity in the alignment of email authentication mechanisms, particularly SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), with the domain asserted by the sender.

Sample DMARC - SPF Alignment

Sender Address	From: Header	Strict Alignment	Relaxed Alignment
support@mycompany.com	support@mycompany.com	Pass	Pass
support@admin. mycompany.com	support@mycompany.com	Fail	Pass
support@mycompany.org	support@mycompany.com	Fail	Fail

 

SPF Strict Alignment: A precise match between the SPF-authenticated domain and the domain specified in the header's "From:" address. 

SPF Relaxed Alignment: The domain indicated in the "From:" address of the header should either match or be a subdomain of the SPF-authenticated domain. 

Sample DMARC - DKIM Alignment

From: Header	DKIM d= domain	Strict Alignment	Relaxed Alignment
support@mycompany.com	mycompany.com	Pass	Pass
support@admin. mycompany.com	mycompany.com	Fail	Pass
support@mycompany.org	mycompany.com	Fail	Fail

DKIM Strict Alignment: A precise match between the relevant DKIM domain and the domain specified in the header's "From:" address. 

DKIM Relaxed Alignment: The domain mentioned in the "From:" address of the header must either coincide with or be a subdomain of the SPF-authenticated domain. 

Add ARC headers 

Implement ARC (Authenticated Received Chain) authentication to avoid Gmail categorizing the email as unauthenticated, especially when utilizing frequent mail forwarding practices.

For additional information on ARC authentication, please refer to the official Google document linked here.

Set up SPF & DKIM 

Mail authentication protocols such as SPF & DKIM should be implemented for organization sending emails to google or yahoo recipients.

Read more about Guidelines for Users Sending 5000 or More Emails Daily

What are the consequences if the deadline is not met? 

Adhering to the sender requirements before the deadline is crucial for optimizing email delivery. Failure to meet the criteria detailed in this article may lead to your email not reaching its destination as intended or being categorized as spam.

Quick Summary:

The Update - Gmail and Yahoo are implementing robust email authentication standards from February 2024.

The Effects - Failure to meet these requirements may result in emails being categorized as spam or not reaching their intended destination.

The Action to be taken - Users sending 5000 or more emails daily must implement SPF,  DKIM and publish DMARC policies. 

Regards,

Sumaya Howth - Product Manager

The Zoho Desk Team

• Topic Participants

• Sumaya Howth

  

• Sticky Posts

• Webinar 2: Supercharged customer support for growing business

  Join us for this webinar and learn how to step up your support game using a real-time communication platform to generate happier, more successful customers. In this live webinar, we will will discuss the importance of SalesIQ for your support team and how it can help you:  Understand your customers better and their journeys to proactively support and engage them even before they ask for help.  Integrating real time conversations into Zoho Desk’s Support, providing a conversational customer service

• Customize Colors of your Customer Self Service Portal

  You asked for it. We heard you. We're happy to roll out the most sought after feature request, Customizing the Colors of your Customer Self-service Portal. Now you can set the color of your customer portal to mimic your company's web site, so that your customers visiting the portal will not feel alienated by the default theme.  Go ahead and configure the color of the header, tabs, fonts and background according to your needs. You can either choose between default color themes like Blue, Grey, Green

• Edit and Delete options in Comments

  A lot of teams have been using ticket comments extensively to collaborate everyday. Notification Center further improved this experience by bringing real-time updates. As we continue to build more improvements to this experience, we've shipped a small-yet-important

• 2024 Email Authentication Standards: Elevating Security with Google and Yahoo

  In contemporary email communication, email authentication plays a pivotal role in mitigating email fraud, spam, and phishing attacks. Brace yourself for a new level of security. Starting February 2024, Gmail and Yahoo will be implementing robust email

• Announcing the New and Improved Article Editor

  KBase articles are known to help customers, find solutions to problems on their own and set the stage for ticket deflection. That said, the way you present your KBase content is the clinching factor that ensures your customers stick around to consume it.  We took it upon ourselves to build an editor that allows you to publish articles without delving into the code. Well, at least for the most part. With more options and a redefined interface, the article editor in Zoho Desk is now better than ever!

• Recent Topics

• MORE BUGS: Client Script, Deluge and Widget JS SDK don't work as expected when trying to retrieve a record that has been "rejected" as part of an approval process.

  Client Script $Page.record is null when accessing a record that has been "rejected" as part of an approval process. Deluge zoho.crm.getRecordById(moduleName, recordId) returns {"status":"failure"} when recordId is a valid, but rejected record. OK... I

• Zoho CRM Widget not displaying 2 related lists (JS)

  Okay so I basically have 2 relatedLists that I want to get and render: ZOHO.CRM.API.getRelatedRecords({ Entity: data.Entity, RecordID: data.EntityId, RelatedList: "Notes", page: 1, per_page: 200, }) ZOHO.CRM.API.getRelatedRecords({ Entity: data.Entity,

• Zoho Books and Zoho Projects Task Status Update

  How can we create an automation using custom functions for the following scenario. When our zoho books invoice status changes to paid. I want a task in Zoho projects to change to completed.

• Default Sort Order in Project Tasks View

  It should be possible to specify a default sort order (or have the last explicit sort order restored upon reload) for the tasks in the project tasks view. Currently the sort order must be manually re-selected for each sub-group whenever any changes are

• Assigning Tasks and Requests to Groups... how do I?

  Guys, I've spent many hours exploring Zoho Support and we are generally satisfied with the system.  I'm trying to understand how a system that has so much to offer can be missing GROUP assignment and queue functionality.  I am hoping that there is a way

• Parsing of SQL query failed. Please check the SQL syntax.

  I am trying to have Zoho Analytics recognize that if the a Deal is in Stage "Need Docs" it should also be counted as a Deal in the Stage "New Lead" /*New Lead*/ SELECT "ID" 'New Lead' AS "Stage" From "Deals" Where "Stage" = 'Need Docs' Union All Error

• Where is the setting to enable/disable 2FA?

  The following links show where enable/disable 2FA is supposed to appear, but neither appear for me: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/kb/zohosites/faq/account/articles/how-do-i-enable-or-disable-two-factor-authentication-for-my-account shows Security >

• How to Assign Record Ownership in a Custom Form via API?

  Hello everyone, I’ve created a custom form in Zoho People and I’m using the API to manage its records. I would like to know how I can assign ownership of these records to specific users via the API. Is there a specific parameter or field in the API request

• Customer Statement Template not matching when sending

  Hi everyone! So when I send statements to our customers via Zoho Books, the message that appears by default does not match what I have written on the template Under settings -> email notifications -> sales -> customer statement We have a single default

• Working with keywords

  Hello everyone, first time here so I will try to be brief. I am working on my company's data set. I have a table with all the images we have on line. For each image we hava a cell tha contains all keywords related to that image. I would like to explore

• Peppol Malaysia API

  Hi Zoho Books, my country Malaysia will going to implement "Peppol" (E-Invoicing), starting 1 Jul 2025 for all businesses. The government intends to provide API for accounting app. The workflow involves creating an invoice from accounting app, triggers

• Re-emitir facturas con nueva dirección de facturación

  Hola, necesito saber si es posible que las facturas ya emitidas, pueden ser re-emitidas con el cambio de dirección de facturación, realizado el día de hoy 02-01-2025, para efectos contables. Espero su ayuda, Gracias

• Zoho Learn vs. Trainer Central

  Hi, I'm currently using Zoho One with a WordPress-based website and WooCommerce to manage my online courses. I would like to know what is the difference between Zoho Learn and Trainer Central and if it's possible for these two platforms to replace WP

• Map Plan to Different Income Account for Some Subscriptions via API

  We have a plan that has a default Plan Account of "Sales". Can we override the account for a specific subscription via API? In some instances the same exact plan should map to a different income account. When we create stand-alone invoices in Zoho Books,

• Flow with CRM

  Hello, I have a simple flow that uses a web hook to enter data into a Sales Order. I have the web hook sending Flow data which has a PO field. If the PO has a special character like - or / or \ the task fails. How can I get the flow to be okay with the

• Chrome browser issues. Anyone else?

  I am suddenly having multiple issues with Chrome browser interpreting the Zoho Mail interface.  Anyone else?  Any known problems? Thanks, Todd

• Zoho Payroll US?

  Good morning, just reaching out today to see if there's any timeline, or if there's progress being made to bring Zoho Payroll out to be available to all states within the USA. Currently we're going through testing with zoho, and are having issues when

• Set up multiple IMAP email addresses

  Hi, I just started using CRM and its great, but I just found out I can only add one imap email address for incoming mail in the included salesinbox ...this is ridiculous. All companies have different email such as sales@domain, info@domain , personal@domain

• Function 58: Custom calculation in item table of invoices (2 fields)

  Hello everyone, and welcome back to our series! In Zoho Books, the Item Amount in invoices is calculated by multiplying the Quantity and Rate fields. Previously, we shared a function to include a custom field in this calculation. Today, we are taking

• Tracking new lead response time

  Hi, I have a team of Sales Development Reps, who have a KPI of responding to a lead within 20 mins or less once it hits the system.  I seem to recall that Zoho CRM had the capability to track this in a previous version, but don't see it anywhere.   It's

• Search function not working anymore

  Hi! The search function is not working anymore. How can we solve this problem?

• When converting a lead to an account, the custom mandatory fields in the account are not treated by zoho as mandatory

  In my Account module I have a number of custom fields that I have set as mandatory. When I enter a new customer as a new account they work, I can't save the record without populating them. However when I convert a lead, my CRM users are able to save the

• Expand Zia's Language Support and AI Capabilities

  Dear Zoho Desk Support, I would like to submit a feature request to improve Zia, the AI-driven support assistant in Zoho Desk. Currently, Zia only supports the English language, while other AI agents such as Gemini, ChatGPT, and Claude can work with a

• get gettting the days number between two dates with deluge

  I am trying to calculate the days number between 2 specific dates but its not working. PLease help me.

• Limit excceding issue in zoho creator

  I am transferring data from Zoho Books to Zoho Creator using a Deluge script. However, I am frequently encountering a "limit exceeding error," which seems to be related to the Deluge statements limit. I reached out to Zoho Support, and they informed me

• How do I add more schedules to Zoho Creator?

  At the moment, the number of schedule calls we have in Zoho Creator are 1800 per month and I was wondering if it was possible to upgrade that amount to something higher. I'd like to know my options as well as the pricing.

• Conexion CREATOR x CRM

  Buenas tardes, Tengo un problema con un código que crea un registro en CRM. Revisé el CRM para eliminar los campos obligatorios, pero cuando ejecuto el programa, aparece el siguiente mensaje de error: {"code":"MANDATORY_NOT_FOUND","details":{"api_name":"data"},"message":"required

• Invoices with billable time and expenses

  I cannot seem to get a straight answer. We are looking to create an invoice to send to our clients, but it needs to have the following on it: 1. Billable hours for each employee. All hours for the pay period on one line, by employee. 2. Expenses for each

• Search Bar Improvement for Zoho Commerce

  Hey everyone, I've been using Zoho Commerce for a bit now, and I think the search bar could really use an upgrade. Right now, it doesn't show products in a dropdown as you type, which would make finding items a lot faster. On Shopify, for example, you

• Send Whatsapp with API including custom placeholders

  Is is possible to initiate a session on whatsapp IM channel with a template that includes params (placeholders) that are passed on the API call? This is very usefull to send a Utility message for a transactional notification including an order number

• Can't get form response to populate custom PDF template

  I've created a template and set it to default but can't figure out how to get the response to populate that template. It keeps giving me the default summary.

• Zoho Sheets not compatible with Excel/Google Sheets

  In order to share a copy of a Zoho sheet with someone that does not use Zoho, it must be downloaded as MS Excel format and then added to an email.  This is a labor intensive, and frankly confusing process.  I have forgotten to do this before, only to

• Add Ability to Designate Decision Branches as "Error Branches"

  Zoho Flow gives the ability to track down, troubleshoot, and fix errors with the Status and Filter dropdowns in the History tab. This works well for when a "normal" Flow action registers with an error. However, there are other times where it would be

• Visitors sending message via Whatsapp are not saving on contacts

  Visitors who sends me messages from Whatsapp when i finish the chat do not populate on contacts, how can I add them as contacts?

• ChatGPT only summarize in English

  Hello i' v enabled chatgpt in salesIQ, it works great inside conversation (revise, Rephrase etc) add tags works well with another language than English. But when I want to summarize it render only in English, despite sales IQ is set to another language.

• Brand with multiple facebooks pages

  HI, We are a small publisher that has different FaceBook pages for each of our product lines. All are within the same FB account.   Is it possible to add all of these pages to our one brand in zoho social so I orchestrate the posts between the different products?    Cheers, Joe

• How do I connect Sales IQ to Shopify

  How do I connect Sales IQ to Shopify.    

• DORA compliance

  For DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act) compliance, I’ll want to check if Zoho provides specific features or policies aligned with DORA requirements, particularly for managing ICT risk, incident reporting, and ensuring operational resilience in

• Stock Count - Does it really work?

  We have been trying to use the new Zoho Inventory stock count feature. It seems great at first glance.. ..but what we can't get our heads around is if a count doesn't match you can't simply set up a recount of those that are unmatched, which just seems

• Create Ticket from Chat with Rest API

  Hi to everyone, is possible to create a ticket from Chat with Rest API? In user interface is possible by clicking on the button "Convert chat as a ticket". Anyone know how to do that? Thanks

• Next Page