What do p=none, p=quarantine and p=reject mean?

What does DMARC policy (p=none, p=quarantine, p=reject) mean?

reject: The Domain Owner wishes for Mail Receivers to reject email that fails the DMARC mechanism check.

p=none is where a firm starts, so that the reports show which services send in its name. It protects nothing: a forged message still reaches the inbox. A record left at p=none reads as protection at a glance and is not.

p=quarantine sends failing mail to spam or holds it for review. p=reject refuses it during delivery, so the person never sees it. The usual path is none, then quarantine, then reject, each step taken once the reports show genuine mail passing.

A record can also carry pct=, the share of failing mail the policy applies to. With p=reject and pct=10, one failing message in ten is refused; the rest are treated as quarantine. A firm moving up a step can use pct= to take it gradually and raise it to 100 when nothing genuine fails.

Where does it show up in a reading?

In a LeakTrace reading it is read under “Forged email in your name”: the records that tell inboxes whether to refuse email sent as you (DMARC, SPF and DKIM).

p=none and no record are open ways in; p=quarantine is partly closed; p=reject closes forged email on that domain.

Which pages use this term?

• DMARC, SPF and DKIM at your DNS host
• Mail errors, explained
• DMARC
• Forged email
• The LeakTrace Index