DMARC policies utilize RUA and RUF tags for reporting. While neither tag is strictly required, RUA (Aggregate Reporting) is strongly recommended by experts, major email providers like Yahoo, and the email marketing community because it provides essential visibility into how emails are being handled, enabling monitoring of DMARC compliance and identifying potential issues. RUA specifies where aggregate reports about DMARC results should be sent, with the value being a mailto: URI. RUF (Forensic Reporting) is less critical due to privacy concerns, potential data leaks (containing personally identifiable information (PII) that often makes it useless after data trimming), and implementation challenges. It provides forensic data. It is less commonly used due to privacy concerns surrounding forensic data, and RUF reports are rarely sent. It specifies the URI(s) to which forensic (failure) feedback reports should be sent. For dedicated subdomains with a 'p=reject' policy, the RUA tag may not be required, but it's still beneficial for detecting misconfigurations or abuse.
10 marketer opinions
DMARC policies utilize RUA and RUF tags for reporting. RUA (Aggregate) reports are widely recommended as they provide essential summaries of email traffic and authentication results, enabling monitoring of DMARC compliance and identification of potential issues. RUF (Forensic) reports, while offering detailed data on individual email failures, are less commonly used due to privacy concerns, potential data leaks, and implementation challenges. While neither tag is strictly required, especially with a 'p=reject' policy on dedicated subdomains, RUA is strongly advised for maintaining visibility and managing email authentication effectively. In summary, RUA is generally more important and universally supported, while RUF requires careful consideration due to privacy implications and limited availability.
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks suggests only removing RUA for dedicated subdomains if you're 100% sure that subdomain is only used for a single source and it's configured.
6 Oct 2021 - Email Geeks
Marketer view
Email marketer from AuthSMTP says the RUA tag specifies an email address to send daily reports about your domain's DMARC status and the RUF tag provides the ability to receive reports on individual email failures but is not commonly used.
17 Mar 2024 - AuthSMTP
2 expert opinions
Experts agree that RUA (Aggregate Reporting) is a critical component of DMARC implementation, providing essential visibility into how emails are being handled. While RUF (Forensic Reporting) can offer more granular insights into abuse instances, it's less critical due to privacy concerns. Major email providers like Yahoo are also strongly recommending the use of RUA.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks agrees RUA is more important than RUF and that Yahoo is "strongly recommending" having an RUA address.
12 Oct 2023 - Email Geeks
Expert view
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that DMARC implementation requires organizations to receive and analyze aggregate reports (RUA) to understand how their emails are being handled. Forensic reports (RUF) are less critical due to privacy concerns but can assist in identifying specific abuse instances if utilized properly.
15 Sep 2022 - Word to the Wise
4 technical articles
DMARC policies utilize RUA and RUF tags for reporting purposes. The RUA tag specifies the URI (typically a mailto: URI) to which aggregate reports summarizing email traffic and DMARC results should be sent. RUF specifies where forensic or failure reports are sent. RUF is less commonly used due to privacy concerns.
Technical article
Documentation from Proofpoint (formerly Agari) details that RUA provides aggregated reports of DMARC assessment results, while RUF provides forensic reports of individual email failures. RUF is less commonly used due to privacy concerns.
21 Dec 2021 - Proofpoint
Technical article
Documentation from DMARC.org explains that 'rua' specifies the URI(s) to which aggregate feedback reports should be sent and 'ruf' specifies the URI(s) to which forensic (failure) feedback reports should be sent. They are comma separated lists of mailto: URIs.
28 Jul 2023 - DMARC.org
Are DMARC RUA and RUF tags mandatory for compliance and what are their benefits?
Are there GDPR concerns related to IP addresses in DMARC reporting?
Can DMARC reports be sent without RUA or RUF addresses?
How can DMARC reports be enriched with user-level data for better domain enforcement?
How do DMARC policies and RUA/RUF settings inherit or override each other between a domain and its subdomains?
How many DMARC report emails should I expect to receive daily and how should I manage them?