Three months ago, when I joined Agari as the Chief Marketing Officer, I knew that I was joining a leader in email security. I knew this partially because I worked for Agari from 2016-2019 during an exciting time of change for the company. But my time away from Agari made me realize how much it has to offer its customers and partners, which is ultimately why I decided to return. And I’m thrilled to...

Wondering how DMARC affects email? Here’s a comprehensive guide explaining what DMARC is, how it affects email, and why your company needs it for security. What is DMARC? What does DMARC mean? DMARC, short for Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance, is an email authentication protocol to help email administrators prevent fraudsters from spoofing email domains by specifying...

In July 2020, we published a report on a Russian-based BEC group we called Cosmic Lynx . In that report , we described the tactics used by the group, which included its targeting of senior executives at large companies with a global footprint and how it uses mergers and acquisitions (M&A) themes in its BEC email lures. Shortly after we published the report, we saw a significant decrease in Cosmic...

Why do you need DMARC to protect your email domains from being leveraged in phishing attacks? To get the full picture, let's look at the basics—and how DMARC came to be. What is DMARC? Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance, or DMARC , is an open email authentication protocol that helps senders protect their email domains from being spoofed by fraudsters in phishing attacks...

Curious how BIMI can protect your email? I’ll explain what BIMI is, how it works, and how you can use it to protect your brand’s email communications. What is BIMI? Brand Indicators for Message Identification, or BIMI, provides a standardized method for businesses to showcase their brand logo next to the subject line of their authenticated emails so they stand out in crowded inboxes, with built-in...

CISOs and their teams are about to get some serious performance enhancers in their high-stakes race against email security threats. According to the FBI, phishing campaigns, business email compromise (BEC) scams, and other advanced email attacks have resulted in $26 billion in business losses over the course of three years. Then 2020 happened. With 75 million corporate employees even now still...

Implementing DMARC at its highest enforcement level is critically important to security and messaging operations. But it's also just the first step to realizing the full value of your DMARC program. To understand why, let's start with the basics. DMARC , which stands for Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance, can stop fraudsters from spoofing your domain and impersonating...

What is email spoofing, how does it work, and why is it so dangerous to your company? We’ll explain everything you need to proactively stop attackers from spoofing your email address. Email Spoofing: What Is It? Email spoofing is when a fraudster forges an email header’s ‘From’ address to make it appear as if it was sent by someone else, usually a known contact like a high-level executive or...

We'll cover what DKIM for email is, why your company needs it, how it works, how to set DKIM up, and additional ways to prevent email spoofing attacks. What is DKIM? First, let’s clarify what DKIM is in email. DomainKeys Identified Mail is a technique that uses your domain name to sign your emails with a digital “signature” so your customers know it’s really you sending those emails and that they...

In this post, we will look at 5 keys to DMARC success both organizationally and in enterprise-wide implementation. Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) is a standard email authentication protocol that plays an essential role in any organization’s cyber security arsenal. That’s because DMARC is key to protecting your business, customers, and partners from email...

Over the last five years, Business Email Compromise (BEC) has evolved into the predominant cyber threat businesses face today. Since 2016, businesses have lost at least $26 billion as a result of BEC scams and, based on the most recent FBI IC3 report , losses from BEC attacks grew another 37 percent in 2019—accounting for 40 percent of all cybercrime losses over the course of the year. The...

We'll explain how to configure DMARC for your company's email, including what you'll need and how to add DMARC to your DNS. Just follow these DMARC setup steps! Before we begin, here’s a high-level overview of how to add DMARC to your DNS. Add your DMARC record into your DNS Select the TXT record type Add the host value (see details below) Add the value information (see details below) Save the...

With cyber gangs leveraging business email compromise (BEC) attacks that actively exploit their targets' level of DMARC adoption, CISOs have been ratcheting up email security. Until now, the need to dial up defenses against imposters posing as senior executives in email attacks has been increasingly forcing legitimate business correspondence into quarantine. The chain reaction kneecaps commerce...

For a growing number of email marketers, it may be "BIMI or bust." As of June 30, nearly 5,300 companies have adopted Brand Indicators for Message Identification ( BIMI ), a new email standard for showcasing a brand's logo next to its email messages in recipient inboxes, with built-in protections against phishing-based brand spoofing. The tally reflects a 3.8X increase in the number of brands...

If you haven't deployed Domain-based Messaging Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) to protect your brand from being impersonated in phishing scams, there are pressing reasons to jump on it now. Without a doubt, these are extraordinary times for individuals and organizations alike as we've been forced to change the way we work, shop, play, and live seemingly overnight, and for far...

With marketers more dependent on digital channels, many may accelerate their tests of Google's AMP for Email technology in search of an edge. But without an email protocol called Domain-based Messaging Authentication, Reporting and Conformance ( DMARC ), fraudsters could weaponize the trust customers expect from your brand for their own evil intentions and put consumers and businesses at risk. The...

In the first reported case of its kind, a phishing ring in Eastern Europe is exploiting companies' own Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance ( DMARC ) controls to impersonate CEOs in business email compromise (BEC) scams worth millions. As detailed in our new threat actor dossier on a group we call Cosmic Lynx , the Agari Cyber Intelligence Division (ACID) has identified...

A seismic shift in the email threat landscape has CISOs bracing for sophisticated new forms of business email compromise (BEC) scams, as phishing's center of gravity begins to tilt from West African email scammers toward Russian and Eastern European cybercrime lords. As detailed in our new threat actor dossier on a threat group we call Cosmic Lynx , the Agari Cyber Intelligence Division (ACID) has...

Are you protecting your remote workers against an endless barrage of COVID-19 related phishing attacks by requiring 2-factor authentication (2FA) to log into employee email accounts? Smart move—just don't let it give you a false sense of security.

Hint: DMARC Alone Won't Cut It Think the prospect of cybercriminals using your domains to launch phishing attacks sounds bad for your brand? Just wait until you hear the latest on lookalike domains. Over the last few months, researchers have been discovering a troubling number of phishing sites that feature domains meant to impersonate leading brands in a variety of industries. Sometimes referred...