What better reason to analyse the email domain security of some of the most popular consumer brands than one of the busiest retail holidays, Valentine’s Day? It’s that rose-tinted glasses time of year when some of us replace our common sense and security-savvy online behavior with panic-purchases and last-minute, oh-so-expensive restaurant reservations.
The best table in the house is going to cost more than you think
Call it what you will, ‘The Old Smoke’, ‘The Big Smoke’ or just ‘The Smoke’, but if you were trying to book a table in one of London’s hottest eateries, you may be feeling the financial burn today.
We analyzed the primary domains of the top 48 most romantic restaurants in London, as ranked by GQ Magazine, and found that only one had a DMARC policy in place, and it wasn’t even in quarantine, let alone reject.
Email fraud continues to bloom
We looked at 20 of the biggest flower delivery companies in the US, as listed by Timeout, and found only two had DMARC set to p=none, not hugely assuring given how many orders are placed online and that so many email addresses are handed over to these companies whose email domains are so easy spoof. At this time of year, it could be as simple as a scammer sending an email asking a consumer if they want to upgrade their order, or tempt them with free delivery, and with one click, financial details are handed over to the unknown.
All that glitters isn’t always gold
It’s a cliche, but apparently people like to get engaged on Valentine’s Day. In fact, last year over one million people in the UK were planning to pop the question on February 14th.
If you’ve had a wedding, you know how expensive things can get, so we looked into the most popular yet affordable jewelers in the UK to see if these brands were safeguarding their users from heartache. Sadly, none of those listed by Yahoo Style as the brand to buy this Valentine’s season, had any DMARC policies in place.
‘But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?’ For those of us in the security world, it’s anything that will mitigate known and unknown threats. To strengthen your organization’s email security policies and start protecting your users, explore the solutions on offer and select a partner that suits your needs – it may just be Red Sift you’re looking for. If so, drop us a note at contact@redsift.com and we can’t promise to be your one true love, but we’ll definitely set your email security heart on fire.