ASX100 firms vulnerable to email security risks

Around 86% of ASX100 companies aren’t implementing recommended email security best practices, leaving them vulnerable to malicious emails, according to research by cybersecurity firm Proofpoint.

This is despite 90% of cyber attacks coming through email and global imposter email attempts growing more than 400% year on year, Proofpoint Australia and New Zealand Country Manager Crispin Kerr said in a blog post.

Further, 42% of ASX100 organisations have not published a Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) record, “making them susceptible to cybercriminals spoofing their identity and increasing the risk of email fraud targeting users”, Kerr said.

DMARC uses DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) and Sender Policy Framework (SPF) to authenticate a sender’s identity before allowing a message to reach its intended destination, thus helping to prevent domain name misuse, Kerr explained.

To help improve companies’ email security, Kerr suggested organisations implement defences and “inbound threat blocking capabilities” — such as DMARC email authentication protocols — and cybersecurity awareness programs that “train users to spot and report malicious emails”.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Skórzewiak