Email and Third Party Vendors
Learn how to adjust and use third-party mailer services in compliance with Colorado State University’s policies. Due to recent security changes by major email providers, additional authentication steps are necessary to continue using third-party mailers.
Applicable to: Fort Collins, Pueblo, Spur, System
Affiliation: Faculty, Staff
The Need
Recent security changes by major email providers like Google and Yahoo now require mailer services to apply extra authentication to prevent spam and malicious email.
Departments at CSU using third-party mailer services must adjust their settings to comply with these authentication methods, such as:
- SPF (Sender Policy Framework)
- DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail)
The Division of IT understands the importance of using third-party vendors for business functions and is committed to supporting this capability.
The Constraint
To protect and prioritize the @colostate.edu, @csupueblo.edu, and @mail.colostate.edu namespaces for official student, faculty, and staff use, CSU does not allow third-party vendors to send emails "as" or "on behalf of" these protected domains.
The Solution
The Division of IT works with departments to create and manage subdomains for third-party mailer use. Examples of subdomains include:
- admissions.colostate.edu
- communications.colostate.edu
These subdomains allow the necessary SPF and DKIM customization to meet vendor requirements while protecting CSU's main domains.
Get Started
To request a subdomain or make adjustments for your third-party mailer, please email msops_help@colostate.edu with the following information:
- Vendor name
- Your college/administrative area and/or department
- The email address(es) your vendor is sending as
-
Suggested subdomain(s) or your preferred option
-
Need for email receiving: If applicable, specify the desired email address using the subdomain and the shared mailbox to receive messages.
Providing detailed information will help expedite the process.
Outcome
After following these steps, the Division of IT will work with you to configure your mailer service using a subdomain, ensuring compliance with security standards while maintaining your email functionality.