Are you aware of how secure your domain is? In most organizations, there is an assumption that their domains are secure and within a few months, but the truth soon dawns on them that it isn't.
Spotting someone spoofing your domain name is one way to determine if your security is unsatisfactory - this means that someone is impersonating you (or confusing some of your recipients) and releasing false information. You may ask, "But why should I care?" Because these spoofing activities can potentially endanger your reputation.
With so many companies being targeted by domain impersonators, email domain spoofing shouldn't be taken lightly. By doing so, they could put themselves, as well as their clients, at risk.
Your domain's security rating can make a huge difference in whether or not you get targeted by phishers looking to make money quickly or to use your domain and brand to spread ransomware without you knowing it!
Check your domain's security rating with this Free DMARC Lookup tool. You may be surprised by what you learn!
How Do Attackers Spoof Your Domain?
The act of email spoofing involves an attacker using a forged identity of a legitimate source in order to impersonate another person or masquerade as an organization. The procedure can be carried out as follows:
- Manipulating the domain name: Attackers can use your domain name to send emails to your unsuspecting recipients who can fall prey to their malicious intentions. Popularly known as direct-domain spoofing attacks, these attacks are especially harmful to a brand's reputation and how your customers perceive your emails.
- Forging the email domain or address: wherein attackers exploit loopholes in existing email security protocols to send emails on behalf of a legitimate domain. The success rate of such attacks is higher as attackers use third-party email exchange services to carry out their malicious activities that do not verify the origin of email sending sources.
Since domain verification was not built into the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), the protocol on which email is based, newer email authentication protocols, such as DMARC, provide greater security.
How Can a Low Domain Security Impact Your Organization?
As most organizations send and receive data through email, it is crucial that they use a secure connection in order to protect their brand. In the event of inadequate email security, it can lead to big problems for both enterprises and individuals. In terms of communication platforms, email is still the most widely used. Email sent out from a data breach or hack can be devastating for your organization's reputation. Such spoofed emails can also facilitate the spread of malware, spyware, and spam. It is therefore imperative to re-examine how security is deployed within email platforms.
In 2020 alone, brand impersonation accounted for 81% of all phishing attacks, while a single spear-phishing attack resulted in an average loss of $1.6 million. Security researchers predict that this will double by the end of 2021. In turn, this increases the need for organizations to improve their email security as soon as possible.
In contrast to multinational businesses, small businesses and SMEs are still averse to the idea of implementing email security protocols. This is because it's a common myth that SMEs do not fall on the potential target radar of cyber-attackers. Unfortunately, that isn't true. Hackers target organizations based on the security vulnerabilities and problems of their email security, not on the size of the organization. Therefore, any organization with poor domain security might be a target.
Learn how you can get a higher domain security rating with this email security rating guide.
Leverage Authentication Protocols to Gain Maximum Domain Security
While checking your domain's email security rating, a low score can be due to the following factors:
- You don't have email authentication protocols like SPF, DMARC, and DKIM deployed within your organization
- You have deployed the protocols but have not enforced them for your domain
- You have errors in your authentication records
- You have not enabled DMARC reporting to gain visibility on your email channels
- Your emails in transit and server communication are not secured over TLS encryption with MTA-STS
- You have not implemented SMTP TLS reporting to get notified on issues in email delivery
- You have not configured BIMI for your domain to improve your brand recollection
- You have not resolved SPF permerror with dynamic SPF flattening
All of these factors make your domain more vulnerable to email fraud, impersonation, and domain abuse.
PowerDMARC is your one-stop email authentication SaaS platform that brings all the authentication protocols (DMARC, SPF, DKIM, MTA-STS, TLS-RPT, BIMI) across a single pane of glass to make your emails safe again and improve your domain's email security posture.
Its DMARC analyzer simplifies protocol implementation by handling all the complexities in the background and automating the process for domain users. Taking advantage of your authentication protocols in this way allows you to maximize the power of your security solutions.
Sign up for your free DMARC report analyzer today to get a high domain security rating and protection against spoofing attacks.
