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Is this email really from Important Person?

You work on the finance team. Or maybe the purchasing team. Or even in IT. Your day is going just like any other day. You move from task to task non-stop because, let's be honest, they never stop coming. And just like any other day, you barely have time to stop and take a breath because every task or project you are working on is "urgent" for someone else. So, like a good employee, you put your head down and get as much as you can done in the time you are allowed. You don't have time for distractions or ask too many questions because that would just slow you down.

After lunch, you're feeling pretty good about yourself. You got a ton done this morning and ate a "somewhat" healthy lunch. (You got the burger but opted for a salad instead of french fries.) Janet in HR took you to your favorite spot for helping her meet a deadline. You had to work late a couple nights but that's ok. You want to help and figure maybe sometime she will return the favor.

You get back to your desk and scan your email for anything important. As you are scrolling, you notice an email from importantperson@yourcompany.com. Important Person is asking you to do something. And it needs to be done ASAP with four exclamation points! So it must be really important. It could be to pay an invoice that somehow slipped through the cracks and needs to be paid right now. It could be to transfer money to a business partner that is starting a project with your company and it is vital to send that payment immediately. It could be they forgot their password and need you to reset it and send it to them. Or my favorite, they want you to log into a specific web site and give your feedback on the article they sent.

So great, now you have to stop everything and work on this urgent request from Important Person and you're going to have to work late to meet the deadlines you agreed to. So you start working on the request. After all, you are a good employee.

Then you start thinking. “Important Person doesn't typically email me directly. His/Her requests normally come from one of his direct reports. IT always insists we stay vigilant. Maybe I should be doing that now.”

You decide to go back to the email and read it more carefully. You notice Important Person misspelled a few words and some of the sentence structure seems off. You start to think that maybe this isn't a legitmate request. But the email address appears to be your company's email domain so it must be legitimate. Right? You decide it's better to be safe than sorry. So you pick up the phone and call Important Person's admin to get clarity on the request. Turns out she has no idea what you are talking about and she knows everything that Important Person is working on.

These are the threats many employees have to deal with everyday. Staying diligent is one way to stay safe. But when the phishing emails are actually being sent from YOUR EMAIL DOMAIN, it makes them even harder to spot. However, there are technologies that can be implemented to make your company's email domain more secure and even help improve deliverability.

How do you make your company's email domain more secure and help improve deliverability?

Implement DMARC.

What is DMARC?

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) is an open email standard that helps protect email senders and recipients from malicious emails. DMARC works with other email standards, like SPF and DKIM, to verify email senders.

How does it work?

Domain owners publish a DMARC record in the Domain Name System (DNS). DMARC uses DNS, SPF, and DKIM to verify email senders. If an email fails authentication, DMARC tells the receiving server what to do with it. The receiving server can accept, quarantine, or reject the email.

What does DMARC protects against?

- Domain spoofing: Attackers use an organization's domain to impersonate its employees.

- Phishing and business email compromise: Attackers use email spoofing techniques to trick people into giving away sensitive information.

What are the benefits of DMARC?

- Helps companies establish brand trust.

- Reduces the threat of non-validated or fraudulent email.

- Helps keep your sending reputation healthy.

- Improves email deliverability statistics.

If you wish to learn more about how Cloud Security Solutions can help improve deliverability and increase the security posture of your email domains, visit our website.

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