E-mail message authentication extending standards complaint techniques

A computer-implemented method for processing a plurality of email messages corresponding to a plurality of senders, the computer-implemented method comprising:

• for each given email message of the plurality of email messages
• identifying a FROM:
• header of the given email message, a domainkeys identified mail (DKIM) header of the given email message, and a corresponding sender from the plurality of senders,
• retrieving one or more records associated with the corresponding sender via the Internet, including at least one published domain name service (DNS) record and one or more authentication failure conditions specific to the corresponding sender;
• performing multiple authentication checks, wherein the multiple authentication checks comprise comparing content of the FROM:
• header with a sender policy framework (SPF) entry retrieved as part of the at least one DNS record and a performing an authentication process using the DKIM header and information retrieved as part of the DNS record, and
• authenticating the given email message dependent on the performing of the multiple authentication checks and dependent on the one or more authentication failure conditions specific to the corresponding sender;
• and
• for each one of the plurality of senders, generating an authentication report, wherein the authentication report is to identify information, for each one of the email messages corresponding to the one of the plurality of senders where that one of the email messages failed authentication, as to why that one of the email messages failed authentication.

An apparatus comprising instructions stored on a nontransitory computer-readable storage medium, the instructions, when executed, to cause at least one computer to:

• for each given email message of the plurality of email messages
• identify a FROM:
• header of the given email message, a domainkeys identified mail (DKIM) header of the given email message, and a corresponding sender from the plurality of senders,
• retrieve one or more records associated with the corresponding sender via the Internet, including at least one published domain name service (DNS) record and one or more authentication failure conditions specific to the corresponding sender;
• perform multiple authentication checks, wherein the multiple authentication checks comprise performance of a comparison of content of the FROM:
• header with a sender policy framework (SPF) entry retrieved as part of the at least one DNS record and performance of performing an authentication process using the DKIM header and information retrieved as part of the DNS record, and
• authenticate the given email message dependent on the performance of the multiple authentication checks and dependent on the one or more authentication failure conditions specific to the corresponding sender;
• and
• for each one of the plurality of senders, generate an authentication report, wherein the authentication report is to identify information, for each one of the email messages corresponding to the one of the plurality of senders where that one of the email messages failed authentication, as to why that one of the email messages failed authentication.