Is BIMI Dead?

When Google, Yahoo and Apple announced their email applications would support BIMI, it appeared that BIMI was ready to become an important standard in email marketing. Think about it: Your precious logo directly attached to every email you send, right there in the subject line. You get instant brand recognition and, thanks to the DMARC […]

Google’s Recent SMTP Relay Exploit and DMARC Policies

In April, Google began to see an uptick in spoofing attacks that utilized their SMTP Relay system and compromised Google accounts. They have closed the loophole by May, however, at least 30,000 malicious emails were detected in a two-week period. While this is an extremely small chunk of Google’s email traffic, similar exploits can affect […]

Seriously, Stop Buying Email Lists

In the early days of the Internet, purchasing a list of email addresses was a legitimate business tactic. Lists were a new thing, sending an email was basically free, email servers accepted almost all email and spam was not much of a problem. Spam – Unsolicited email that is sent in bulk. Let me say […]

The ROI of Implementing DKIM on Outbound Email

For any business that sends email, becoming DMARC compliant should be a top priority. DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) is a protocol that contributes to DMARC compliance and enables a company to take responsibility for sent messages by signing them cryptographically.  Recipients of DKIM-compliant email can then verify incoming email by the signature.  Essentially, DKIM establishes […]

Inbox Provider Insider Junk Scams

Inbox Providers work hard to stop email fraud and phishing scams from outside. Google, Yahoo! and Office365.com all utilize a mix of algorithms that include Blacklists, SPF, DKIM and DMARC compliance, Spam scoring and Relevance scoring to make inbox placement decisions. However, scammers have found an interesting loophole, by sending the spam from the Inbox […]

Blacklisted? Get DMARC

Blacklisting is the oldest form of spam protection.  Inbox Providers keep a list of IP addresses and domains that recently sent spam and block them from the inbox.   Blacklisting eventually evolved to include 3rd parties maintaining and selling blacklists derived from spam traps, honey pots, and lists gathered from multiple inbox providers.  As an […]

It’s time to adopt MTA-STS

Inbox Providers like Google, Yahoo! and Outlook.com are in a constant arms race trying to protect their users from spammers, spoofers and irrelevant content. Since the late 90’s dozens of new technologies have been proposed and adopted, including: Blacklists, TLS Encryption, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, BIMI and, now, MTA-STS. With the continued progression of MTA-STS, it […]