Website infrastructure and security company Cloudflare has just debuted two new tools aimed at one particularly universal need for everyone on the internet: Keeping their email inbox orderly and secure.
One tool, Email Security DNS Wizard, lets users create DNS records to better identify and manage potential threats, while the other, Email Routing, helps website owners easily create and manage new email addresses located at their domain.
Both tools are free and built on top of major email providers including Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo.
Together, they offer a simple solution to help small businesses avoid phishing attacks and spoofing scams — a growing concern for internet users.
Cloudflare Email Security DNS Wizard
The DNS Wizard is actually a collection of several security offerings in one tool. There’s the Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM), along with an even longer acronym: Domain-based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance (DMARC).
But these features all boil down to the equivalent of caller ID and call screening for your email, as Wired has elegantly explained. Creating DNS records is a simple way to track the sender information of any email that winds up in a business’ inbox, making verification easy and stopping phishing attempts in their tracks.
Cloudflare Email Routing
The Email Routing tool lets users create their own unique email addresses, tied to the domain name they own. Mail to these addresses can then be forwarded to another, more frequently used email address — whether it’s on the same domain or it’s the personal email address of the website owner.
All major email clients are supported, from Gmail and Outlook to Yahoo and AOL. Multiple addresses can all be redirected to the same inbox.
It’s a tool that’s clearly aimed at smoothing out the process of email management for any small business that wants the professionalism of a unique address for support, sales, or press, paired with the convenience of being able to read it all from the same location.
And Yes, It’s Free
Small business managers have a truly overwhelming laundry list of useful, time-saving software to consider adapting when their schedule gives them a little downtime, from ecommerce website builders and inexpensive hosting services to the all-important accounting software or the retailer’s all-in-one product management solution, the POS system.
None of those are free, though, so while you’re considering them, check out what Cloudflare has to offer. Both of their new tools are available on Cloudflare’s Free plan, making this one cutting-edge email security and management solution that should be on any small business’s radar.
