Forge University

Find, fix and prove: what ActiScan does for your clients

ActiScan is a multi-client email-security tool for MSPs. It finds what is wrong with each client domain, fixes what is safe to fix, proposes the rest for a person to approve, and keeps a record of every change you can show a client or an auditor. In short: find, fix and prove.

Why it matters to your clients. Email is the easiest way for an attacker to pretend to be your client. If a domain has no enforced DMARC policy, anyone can send mail that looks like it came from that domain. Your clients rarely know this. Insurers, auditors and large customers increasingly ask about it. ActiScan gives you a clear grade for every domain, the exact fix, and evidence that the work was done.

What a scan checks. Every scan checks SPF (including how many DNS lookups it uses), DMARC, DKIM, BIMI, MTA-STS, MX records (including a null MX), DNSSEC, subdomain exposure, and a blacklist check against seven lists. It also checks the domain's nameservers, its HTTPS certificates and its registration expiry. A weekly watch looks for lookalike domains, such as typos and look-alike characters.

Find. When you add a domain, ActiScan scans it straight away. You can rescan any time with "Scan now" on the domain's row, or "Scan all domains" at the top of the table. You can also set each domain to rescan on its own, daily, weekly or monthly.

Fix. For every failing or warning check, ActiScan writes a "How to fix it" note. Where the fix is a DNS record, such as SPF, DMARC, BIMI or MTA-STS, it gives the exact record to publish. That record is worked out from the domain's current record, so nothing that already works gets dropped. Where DNS alone can't fix the problem, such as a DKIM key that has to come from the mail platform, it explains the real next step instead. If you connect the client's DNS host, ActiScan can publish the record for you.

Prove. Every change ActiScan makes is logged with the record before and after. Client reports send each client a monthly email under your brand. Audit evidence builds a pack for one client and a date range, with every DNS change and every fix and approval, including who and when.

Where STACEY fits. STACEY (Secure Total Automation Control Engine for You) is an AI engine built by ActiForge, and she works inside ActiScan. She writes a short summary for each domain, writes each new client's starting point, answers questions in the "Ask Stacey" chat, and, if your account owner switches it on, fixes issues that can't stop mail and proposes changes that could. Anything that could affect mail delivery waits for a person.

Your account, your brand. Reports, PDFs and the monthly client email carry your organization name, logo and color, set in Settings under Branding. Your clients see your brand.

How this course is organized.

  • Module 1: what ActiScan does, how grades work, and who can do what.
  • Module 2: a tour of the main pages.
  • Modules 3 and 4: setting up a new client in nine steps, following the Onboarding checklist.
  • Module 5: daily operations and safety: approvals, DMARC enforcement and change records.
  • Module 6: offboarding a client and troubleshooting.
  • A final review.

Every client in this course is fictional, and example domains use names like example.com.

Knowledge check

Click an option to check yourself — this is a self-check, not graded or saved. The graded version pooling this module's questions is on the syllabus page.

1. Which three words sum up what ActiScan does?

2. When does ActiScan first scan a domain you add?

3. How does ActiScan build the exact DNS record in a "How to fix it" note?

4. Who built STACEY?

5. What happens to a change that could affect mail delivery?

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