Global Mandates and Guidance for DMARC in 2025

In today’s interconnected digital landscape, email remains a primary vector for cyberattacks, including phishing, spoofing, and business email compromise (BEC). For cybersecurity, email security, and IT teams, understanding and adhering to global DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) requirements is not merely a best practice, but an imperative. DMARC provides a critical layer of defense, enabling organizations to authenticate their emails, prevent unauthorized use of their domains, and enhance their overall security posture.

Recognizing the complexity and variability of DMARC mandates and guidance across different regions worldwide, Patronum has developed a comprehensive, tabulated overview. This resource is designed to demystify the intricacies of global DMARC compliance, offering a clear and unambiguous guide that consolidates the diverse requirements into a single, easily accessible format. This is vital, because many countries and regions are adding DMARC requirements to their cyber security laws.

The table serves as an essential tool for a wide range of professionals, including IT security professionals tasked with implementing and maintaining email security systems, email administrators responsible for configuring and managing email servers, and compliance officers ensuring adherence to relevant regulations. By providing a centralized source of information, Red Sift empowers organizations to ensure their email security practices align with international best practices and requirements, mitigating the risk of costly and damaging cyberattacks. This resource helps to keep companies up to date, and helps to reduce the risk of fines due to non-compliance.

Global DMARC mandates and guidance

Affected Geo	Name	Description	Mandate type	Learn more
Global	New requirements for bulk senders	Those sending over 5,000 emails a day must authenticate email-sending domains with TLS, DKIM, SPF, DKIM, or SPF alignment and have a DMARC policy of p=none.	Private sector mandate	Here
Global	PCI DDS v4.0 Req 5.4.1	“Automated mechanisms” must be deployed to detect and protect against phishing attacks. Though this requirement is for “processes and mechanisms” and does not point to a specific solution, best practices would point to implementing DMARC, SPF, and DKIM.	Compliance mandate	Here
Canada	Email Management Services Configuration Requirements	Ensure that the sender or recipient of government email can be verified using inbound mail using the Sender Policy Framework; Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM); and Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC).	Mandate for government agencies	Here
Denmark	Minimum technical requirements for government authorities 2023	All governmental agencies are required to implement a DMARC policy of p=reject on all domains.	Mandate for government agencies	Here
New Zealand	2022 New Zealand Information Security Manual, v3.6, section 15.2	The future replacement for SEEMail will use DMARC and therefore vendors and agencies will need to be compliant. 1. Change of DMARC control compliance from SHOULD to MUST [CID:6019] [CID:6021] 2. Change of DMARC policy setting from p=”none” to p=”reject” [CID:6020] 3. Change of DKIM control compliance from SHOULD to MUST [CID:1797] [CID:1798]	Mandate for government agencies	Here
Ireland	Public Sector Cyber Security Baseline Standards, section 2.9	Public service bodies must implement TLS, SPF, DKIM, and enforce DMARC on all inbound mail.	Mandate for government agencies	Here
Netherlands	“Comply or Explain” standards	Mandatory guidelines for government agencies require DKIM, SPF, and DMARC as well as STARTTLS and DANE.	Mandate for government agencies	Here
Saudi Arabia	Guide to Essential Cybersecurity Controls (ECC) Implementation, section 2-4-3	National organizations must implement all necessary measuresto analyze and filter email messages (specifically phishing emails and spam) using advanced and up-to-date email protection techniques. Recommended approachesinclude DKIM, SPF, and DMARC.	Mandate for government agencies	Here
UK	Government Cybersecurity Policy Handbook Principle: B3 Data Security	Government departments shall have DMARC, DKIM, and SPF records in place for their domains. This shall be accompanied by the use of MTA-STS and TLS Reporting. This requirement originated from the 2018 Minimum Cybersecurity Standard.	Mandate for government agencies	Here
UK	Securing government email	All emails that public sector organizations run on the internet must encrypt and authenticate email by supporting TLS and DMARC at minimum.	Mandate for government agencies	Here
UK	Updating our security guidelines for digital services	Any service that runs on service.gov.uk must have a published DMARC policy.	Mandate for government agencies	Here
United States	Binding Operational Directive 18-01: Enhance Email and Web Security	Requires all federal agencies to bolster web security with STARTTLS, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC with a policy of p=reject.	Mandate for government agencies	Here
Australia	Cybersecurity guidelines: Guidelines for Email	Recommends implementing SPF, DKIM, and DMARC with a policy of p=reject	Guidance	Here
Australia	How to combat fake emails	Suggests using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to prevent domains from being used as the source of fake emails.	Guidance	Here
Australia	Malicious email mitigation strategies	Recommends the most effective methods of protecting organizations from email-borne attacks, and includes deploying DKIM, SPF, and DMARC with a “p=reject” policy.	Guidance	Here
Canada	Implementation guidance: email domain protection (ITSP.40.065 v1.1)	For complete protection against spoofing, organizations should implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.	Guidance	Here
EU	Email communication security standards	Recommends using STARTTLS, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and DANE to protect email communications.	Guidance	Here
Germany	Measures to defend against spam and phishing, Section 3.1	Proposed measures to internet service providers that can be used to reduce the malware and spam problem SPF, DKIM and DMARC.	Guidance	Here
Saudi Arabia	Phishing Campaigns for Emotet Malware	Implement Domain-Based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC) to detect email spoofing using Domain Name System (DNS) records and digital signatures.	Guidance	Here
Scotland	A Cyber Resilience Strategy for Scotland: Public Sector Action Plan 2017-2018, v2	Public bodies should take advantage of DMARC anti-spoofing.	Guidance	Here
UK	Email security and anti-spoofing v2	Make it difficult for fake emails to be sent from your organization’s domains using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC with a policy of at least p=none, including parked domains. Protect your email in transit with TLS.	Guidance	Here
UK	Phishing attacks: defending your organisation v1.1	DMARC, SPF, and DKIM are Layer 1 defenses for stopping spoofed emails used to attack an organization.	Guidance	Here
United States	CIS Critical Security Controls v8.0, IG2-9.5	Implement DMARC policy and verification, starting with Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and the DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) standards.	Guidance	Here
United States	CISA INSIGHTS Enhance Email &Web Security	Enable DKIM, SPF, and DMARC with a policy of p=reject.	Guidance	Here
United States	Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) Ransomware Guide	To lower the chance of spoofed or modified emails from valid domains, implement DMARC policy and verification.	Guidance	Here
United States	NIST 800-53 Security Controls Catalog Revision 5: SI-08	Employ spam protection mechanisms at system entry and exit points to detect and act on unsolicited messages. DMARC, SPF, and DKIM are one way to address this.	Guidance	Here
United States	NIST Special Publication 800-177Revision 1: Trustworthy email	Recommends implementing SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, among other controls to enhance trust in email.	Guidance	Here

Where to go from here?

The landscape of email security and authentication is constantly evolving. Click here to see how Patronum can help you with proper DMARC setup.