How DMARC Is Still Critical and Why Regular Monitoring is Essential
Learn why SPF, DKIM and DMARC are vital for email security, and why continuous monitoring is necessary to prevent phishing, spoofing, and email fraud.
Topsecâs Inbox Protect Silent Assessment â and Why You Need It
Test the credibility of your M365 email security solution. Topsec Inbox Protect enables you to run a silent assessment on your business to understand and access your organisationâs email security risk profile.
The comprehensive guide to Topsec’s Managed DNS Services
Topsec Managed DNS keeps your organisation safe from DNS-based threats. Explore Topsec’s Managed DNS services, offering advanced DNS management, security and analytics.
Crowdstrike: How a single point of failure brought down key services globally.
Crucial services are dependent on the internet and the cloud, from healthcare to money, from transport to communication. Weâve come to rely on technology so completely in such a short time, that thereâs a certain uneasiness, which was highlighted by the CrowdStrike outage.
Phishing Attacks in Different Industries: A Comprehensive Overview
Phishing attacks have become a widespread cybersecurity threat, affecting organisations across all industries. These attacks involve tricking individuals into revealing sensitive information, often through deceptive emails or websites.
The Evolution of Phishing Awareness Training
Phishing awareness training has evolved as hacking and phishing have grown in complexity.
Vishing (Voice Phishing): The Growing Threat and How to Protect Yourself
Learn about vishing, a type of voice phishing scam where fraudsters use phone calls to steal personal information. Discover how to protect yourself from vishing scams and stay informed with the latest cybersecurity tips to prevent fraud.
The Anatomy of a Phishing Email: How to Spot Red Flags and Stay Safe
To protect your organisation from ransomware and phishing attacks, it is important to know the anatomy of a phishing email. Read our blog to know more!
Email Security: A Priority for Small and Medium Enterprises
Email Security: A priority for Small and Medium Enterprises. Email security is a critical priority for businesses of all sizes Get a Quote Download Datasheet Email Security > Email Security: A Priority for Small and Medium Enterprises By Cian Fitzpatrick | 3rd June 2024 As a small-to-medium business, you might think you donât need to be concerned with all this cybercrime stuff. Cybercriminals donât care for small businesses. The takings are too small. This couldnât be further from the truth. But oddly, it is a widely held misconception. Thereâs a certain logic here that cybercriminals would be well aware of: big businesses have big budgets, right? They can spend a fortune on protecting their digital assets. Conversely, smaller businesses have smaller budgets, and probably less digital assets to protect (weâre talking data, the new gold). The return might be smaller, but the fruit is hanging lower.  While you might think that you’re a small fry and donât really need security for your business, make no mistake, that someone out there thinks youâre fry enough. And cybercrime is a growing economy, itâs become an easy trade, with ready-made software solutions available on the Dark Web. The facts are not optimistic. Cybercrime is the number one threat when it comes to financial crime in Ireland, says the Compliance Institute, which surveyed 230 compliance professionals working in Irish financial services. Hacking, phishing, online scams and other forms of cybercrime have overtaken tax evasion and insider trading. And anybody who accesses the internet, is a target and possible victim. So while smaller businesses are squeezed for resources, they simply cannot afford to neglect this issue. According to a 2022 report by Grant Thornton, cybercrime was going to cost Ireland more than âŹ10bn that year. Thatâs a lot of money leaking out of the economy. The same report showed that one in three SMEs fell victim to cybercrime between May â21 and April â22, with an average pay-out to fraudsters at âŹ22 773 per incident. But 2023 figures say that nearly three in four businesses (not necessarily SMEs though) had been attacked in the 12 months prior. That same report says that Ireland had the highest median average number of attacks, Ireland is the country most likely to pay a ransom and that the number was four times higher than the previous year. There is a silver lining however: The single biggest attack in Ireland in 2023, cost âŹ118,128, down from âŹ5.2m in 2022. Silicon Republic has also said that according to Hiscox Business Insurance, Ireland has the highest rate of cyber-insurance ownership of all the countries surveyed, which included the UK, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and the US. The direct financial implications are obvious, but less obvious is the reputational and trust damage that results from these issues. As well as private data that is now âin the wildâ. Protect Your SME with topsec cloud solutions Get A Quote Types of cybercrime that target SMEs: Ransomware, as the name suggests, kidnaps data until money is paid over, simplistically. This is malware that blocks access to a victimâs data by encrypting it, and a decryption key can be âboughtâ. Business Email Compromise, BEC, attacks specific employees that have access to company funds or sensitive data. This is often combined with impersonation, where a fraudster will pretend to be a senior staff member or client. Theyâll request money or access to systems. Password attacks unsurprisingly, involve cybercriminals using a range of methods to learn credentials. One study in 2022 found that more than 80% of successful hacks are as a result of accessing user login details. Social engineering, phishing, brute force, are all methods of gaining the information thatâll get a criminal in, either providing access to sensitive systems and data, or even to money. SMEs are just as much at risk of social engineering attacks. A recent report from 2022 says that organisations with over 2000 employees are only slightly more of a target than their counterparts with less than 100 employees. The number of attacks on a larger enterprise is far more, but as a percentage, it remains more-or-less the same. The bigger issue is that the cost of a breach is generally far more devastating for a small company, than it is for a larger organisation. Cybersecurity Ventures says that 60% of small businesses will close their doors six months after a security breach. This is a huge threat to small businesses, with 43% of online attacks focused on SMEs currently. Of concern should be that SMEs are seemingly unprepared for an attack. A 2023 report found that almost 25% of SMEs had either been attacked or hadnât realised theyâd been attacked in the 12 months prior. 61% of SMEs didnât have dedicated cybersecurity experts, 47% didnât have an incident response plan and 27% didnât have cyber-insurance coverage. What can you do? Every company is experiencing budget cuts right now. Itâs tight, but a large part of being a secure company is phishing awareness. Employee training and instilling security consciousness into each and every staff member is key. Regular training on identifying a potential âphishyâ email, or social engineering and impersonation attempts are crucial. Multifactor authentication is an account login process that demands more than one method of logging in. It may involve a password as well as a security token, or biometric verification. Software systems that prevent dodgy emails from even entering an organisation’s domain are a favourite preventative measure. If measures can be taken to halt the threat before it even reaches inboxes, thatâs ideal. An incident response plan should also be in place. A cyber attack has become a likely event in todayâs world, and planning for the eventuality may help limit the damage. It also generates a preventative-approach-mentality. Forewarned is forearmed. More and more, legislation is forcing companies â big and small â to take responsibility for their own environment and accountability for a breach. Organisations are only really holders of data, not owners. The onus is on these companies to
DMARC is now compulsory, thanks to Yahoo and Google.
DMARC is now compulsory, thanks to Google and Yahoo. Email Security requires DMARC Protection. Get a Quote Download Datasheet Email Security > DMARC DMARC is now compulsory, thanks to Google and Yahoo. By Cian Fitzpatrick | 17th May 2024 Not the cool kid in town, and as old as the internet itself, email remains the most productive business tool. By the same token, itâs the most effective tool for cybercriminals. With this in mind, regulators have been focusing on email security in an attempt to curtail cybercrime. As methods became more sophisticated than simply poorly worded emails promising royal riches from secret vaults in places unknown, so too have security protocols and technology to halt the incoming onslaught. Proactive security solutions are the only way to protect organisations in this age where data is gold. DMARC is now a compliance issue Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance, also known as DMARC, is a solution developed to be highly effective in email security. So much so that Google and Yahoo have implemented stringent DMARC regulations taking effect in February of this year for senders of 5000 or more messages per day. Email domains must have a DMARC policy in the DNS (Domain Name System) and messages must pass DMARC alignment, or they wonât be delivered to Yahoo and Gmail inboxes. This applies to messages sent on an organisationâs behalf through email service providers such as MailChimp. The DNS is the equivalent of the internetâs phonebook â remember those? We access websites through a name, but web browsers talk to each other through IP addresses, so the DNS essentially converts domain names to IP addresses. Whatâs DMARC? DMARC integrates SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) to verify an emailâs authenticity. One of the biggest issues in recent security breaches has been that attackers can impersonate a domain, making an email look like it comes from someone, when it really comes from someone else (a fraudster). DMARC is a robust solution that makes sure to check that the email originates where it says it originates, and can then block phishing and impersonation attempts. DMARC relies on two key elements: SPF confirms the origin of an incoming email. And DKIM, which uses encryption to authenticate an email and prevent identity forgery.  DMARC records instruct recipient servers on handling emails that fail authentication checks, either by quarantine or outright rejection. This may be flagged due to a difference between a supposed email sender and the actual email address. Itâs a crucial layer of defence. In the old days, platforms like Google relied on filters to sieve out spammers and fraudsters. The filters were often so severe that legitimate emails would be blocked. Cyber security is always a fine line between keeping a system safe and minimising user discomfort. Get DMARC Compliant with Topsec today Get A Quote More than just compliance, itâs about trust. Google and Yahooâs move to compel businesses to adopt DMARC is encouraging. On one hand, organisations are teaching their employees to have a healthy distrust of email. However, as a brand and organisation, you want those with whom you engage to trust your digital communications. By implementing solid security measures like those offered by Topsec Cloud Solutions, itâs an opportunity to strategically raise your brand profile as one that can be trusted. The DMARC initiative by Google and Yahoo isnât purely about technology. The three pillars behind this strategy from a userâs perspective are that email will be authenticated in the background (as discussed above), it will be easy to unsubscribe from mailing lists, and emails cannot be spammy â they have to be wanted by recipients. This is a positive move for users and organisations, although it does mean that businesses may have to review their technology strategy if they send more than 5000 emails a day. The idea is to encourage and enhance trust in email communications and to proactively protect against fraud. For organisations that have yet to implement DMARC, itâs an opportunity to ensure the protocol is correctly executed, but itâs also as a confidence-building practice within and across organisations. Thereâs an element of brand reputation and integrity in all of this. Who doesnât want to do business with an ethical organisation that looks after its assets and its clientsâ assets? For marketing teams, itâs a chance to demonstrate outstanding values and a security-aware ethos. This is not just a technology issue. Once again, itâs highlighted that cybersecurity belongs to each stakeholder in the business. Thereâs also the compliance angle. Failure to comply will lead to delays in email delivery and possible rejection. The effect on brand reputation and trust in integrity will be significant. And that’s the best-case scenario. The possibility of a cyber attack becomes very real for organisations that donât comply, or which implement DMARC incorrectly. These attacks have devastating financial and reputational consequences. Itâs the responsibility of each organisation to secure their digital channels. Recovering from a phishing or spoofing attack is expensive, time-consuming, and incredibly stressful for stakeholders. Data and privacy breaches become a nightmare for everyone and the damage can be permanent, or at best, lengthy to repair. DMARC in practice. Both Google and Yahoo offer transparent error codes for each email rejection. The error codes are freely available and offer an explanation along with the numerical code, making it easy to understand why an email was blocked, and what action should be taken. Failures are generally either temporary or permanent. With 90% of all cyber attacks initiated through phishing, which is generally done via email, itâs understandable that the largest tech organisations are taking control. By forcing companies to protect themselves and their users, theyâre helping to make the internet a safer place and combat cybercrime. This is and always will be a process, but organisations need to work together. And this is more than a security issue, itâs a chance to prove to clients that your organisation is taking security seriously. Our DMARC Protection
