# Introduction This how-to is created by the Dutch Internet Standards Platform (the organization behind [internet.nl](https://internet.nl)) and is meant to provide practical information and guidance on implementing DKIM. # What is DKIM? DKIM stands for **D**omain**K**eys **I**dentified **M**ail and is described in [RFC 6376](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6376) with updates in [RFC 8301](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc8301) and [RFC 8463](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc8463). It is meant to provide the owner of a domain with the means to claim that a message has actually been send by the domain's e-mail server and should therefore be considered legitimate. It works by signing every individual e-mail message with a specific key (private key), so that the receiving party can use a corresponding key (public key) published in the sending domain's DNS record to validate the e-mail authenticity and to check whether the e-mail has not been tampered with. # Why use DKIM? A common used technique used by spammers is to trick the receiving party into believing an e-mail is legitimate by using a forged sender address. This is also known as e-mail spoofing. DKIM has been designed to protect against spoofing. If an incoming e-mail does not have a DKIM signature or when it's DKIM signature does not validate, the receiving e-mail server should consider the e-mail to be SPAM. # Tips, tricks and notices for implementation * Use a DKIM key (RSA) of [at least 1024 bits](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6376#section-3.3.3) to minimize the successrate of offline attacks. Don't go beyond a key size of 2048 bits since this is not mandatory according to the RFC. * Make sure you to change your DKIM keys regularly. A rotation scheme of 6 months is recommended. * Parked domains should be explicitly configured to not use e-mail. For DKIM this is done with an empty policy: "v=DKIM1; p=". # Outbound e-mail traffic DKIM for outbound e-mail traffic can be accomplished by publishing a DKIM policy as a TXT record in a domain name's DNS zone, and by configuring the e-mail server to sign outbound e-mails. ## Implementing DKIM with OpenDKIM for Postfix with SpamAssassin **Specifics for this setup** * Linux Debian 9.8 (Stretch) * SpamAssassin version 3.4.2 (running on Perl version 5.28.1) * Postfix 3.4.5 * BIND 9.10.3-P4-Debian * OpenDKIM v2.11.0 **Assumptions** * DNSSEC is used * Mail server is operational * Software packages are already installed ### Set up OpenDKIM and created key pair for your domain Make sure the file ***/etc/opendkim.conf** has a least the following configuration options. UMask 002 Canonicalization relaxed/simple Mode sv AutoRestart Yes AutoRestartRate 10/1h ExternalIgnoreList refile:/etc/opendkim/trusted_hosts InternalHosts refile:/etc/opendkim/trusted_hosts KeyTable refile:/etc/opendkim/key_table SigningTable refile:/etc/opendkim/signing_table PidFile /var/run/opendkim/opendkim.pid SignatureAlgorithm rsa-sha256 UserID opendkim:opendkim Socket inet:12301@localhost Create the the file **/etc/opendkim/trusted_hosts** and make sure it contains the following: 127.0.0.1 localhost example.nl mail.example.nl Now create the directory **/etc/opendkim/keys/example.nl** and execute the following command with this directory and make sure to replace 'YYYYMM' with the number of the current year and month. For example: "selector201906". This makes it easier to determine the age of a specific key in a later stage. `opendkim-genkey -s selectorYYYYMM -d example.nl` There are now 2 files in **/etc/opendkim/keys/example.nl** (the key pair): * selector201906.txt: this file contains DNS complete DKIM DNS record including the public key. > selector201906._domainkey IN TXT "v=DKIM1; k=rsa; p=MIGfMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4GNADCBiQKBgQCooJQftNOg3wOqVW5wOpr1PhhzgeP1IE9dTOtpUOCENP+z1HwP+8fFp9aGo/EKHoDQRhDUxXlVfocmRjb0lyjHD5ax16BBKLAd8+AgHZt1er8fmm2cL+7nurv0vU5YBG9LGUklD9qO/zJrIz+Lp+YO7D2rt0qYAgGzUOLJBWLBNQIDAQAB" ; ----- DKIM key selector201906 for example.nl * selector201906.private: this file contains the private key which is going to be used by Postfix to sign all outbound e-mails. > -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY----- > MIICXAIBAAKBgQCooJQftNOg3wOqVW5wOpr1PhhzgeP1IE9dTOtpUOCENP+z1HwP > +8fFp9aGo/EKHoDQRhDUxXlVfocmRjb0lyjHD5ax16BBKLAd8+AgHZt1er8fmm2c > L+7nurv0vU5YBG9LGUklD9qO/zJrIz+Lp+YO7D2rt0qYAgGzUOLJBWLBNQIDAQAB > AoGASy+V+/Efbxogw0DmRgoLb4+pTU87+d7XJC2YxVN3V9tdq6vxSRslPr8QCuZs > Ievp2XN0K7qE2BbbYbhq5nHDjwzPJ7vCZzN3JI8eOC9gKP++Te6AAcDjP+G3LND4 > Np2AWsn6JwGeM0QYI5Ehrxrw5HlqNb620N6wOEyd/7s4Px0CQQDVT3LhDzUOkbAW > J/jUHdV4WYozRcBGFFJvH85ASJAbK9OSrF3tfJZj9e78xP4Z5EZ8jp9iKgajt5zl > fYtAYjZfAkEAyl/gascX17nxO3rH/8hr8dPS6hY0KYTKXCZfuvYaSG7AZ3oaSQSc > mz3Rz67cm14DZNc01aBE7PwiRjq9TsQo6wJAQkppijXeqENwdMJBWzJWWAuDnoGL > ynugTraUs3eZiUgqfUeh/R8d4bzZY6aYzVUa7rSoJaqn25NBaDSG5SBggwJBAKrp > VepXwjcafjSxeP74ENHnBxVTMzJtR0mTzv1iosfRYQUDBffswSYKi4tOLlm4iD09 > 0w0nkY5jUb7mFMLUv4kCQDjgGWNO8AeAohYF47fmYXeMMvS29rKtdLiR7D41WtOo > +zM7YTQa9kGRihEK+iT8v1x7ZX3mt0WZ5eoupeGauio= > -----END RSA PRIVATE KEY----- Now make sure that the private key can only be read by the user opendkim by executing the following command: `chown opendkim:opendkim selector201906.private` The next step is to create the key table file **/etc/opendkim/key_table**. This file will tell opendkim about the domains that have been configured and where to find their keys. Add the following to configure example.nl: > selector201906._domainkey.example.nl example.nl:selector201906:/etc/opendkim/keys/example.nl/selector201906.private Create the file **/etc/opendkim/signing_table** and add the following line: > *@example.nl selector201906._domainkey.example.nl This concludes the configuration of OpenDKIM. Start OpenDKIM and check your logfiles for possible errors. ### Publish the DNS record Make sure to add the following lines to you domain's zone file: > selector201906._domainkey IN TXT "v=DKIM1; k=rsa; p=MIGfMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4GNADCBiQKBgQCooJQftNOg3wOqVW5wOpr1PhhzgeP1IE9dTOtpUOCENP+z1HwP+8fFp9aGo/EKHoDQRhDUxXlVfocmRjb0lyjHD5ax16BBKLAd8+AgHZt1er8fmm2cL+7nurv0vU5YBG9LGUklD9qO/zJrIz+Lp+YO7D2rt0qYAgGzUOLJBWLBNQIDAQAB" > _adsp._domainkey IN TXT "dkim=all" The first line publishes the selector and the associated public key. The second line tells receiving mail server that all e-mail coming from the domain example.nl are DKIM signed. ### Configure Postfix The final step is to configure Postfix to actually sign outbound e-mail using OpenDKIM. In order to do this add the following to **/etc/postfix/main.cf**: milter_protocol = 6 milter_default_action = accept smtpd_milters = inet:localhost:12301 non_smtpd_milters = inet:localhost:12301 When you are ready to start using DKIM restart Postfix, but make sure you waited long enough for the DKIM DNS record to succesfully propagate.