• Log In
  • Sign Up
  • Contact Us
PowerDMARC
  • Features
    • PowerDMARC
    • Hosted DKIM
    • PowerSPF
    • PowerBIMI
    • PowerMTA-STS
    • PowerTLS-RPT
    • PowerAlerts
    • Reputation Monitoring
  • Services
    • Deployment Services
    • Managed Services
    • Support Services
    • Service Benefits
  • Pricing
  • Power Toolbox
  • Partners
    • Reseller Program
    • MSSP Program
    • Technology Partners
    • Industry Partners
    • Become a Partner
  • Resources
    • DMARC: What is it and How does it Work?
    • Datasheets
    • Case Studies
    • Blog
    • DMARC Training
    • DMARC in Your Country
    • DMARC by Industry
    • Support
  • About
    • Our company
    • Clients
    • Contact us
    • Book a demo
    • Events
  • Menu Menu

Outbound Email Security

Blogs
Outbound Email Security3

Emails are one of the most common mediums of business communication. No matter how sensitive or generic the content is, we only want the intended recipient to receive it. This is exactly where the role of outbound email security practice comes in, as it can prevent Business Email Compromise or BEC attacks. Hackers attempt BEC attacks to access your company’s email accounts without your knowledge and consent to commit fraud using your company’s name. 

As per FBI’s IC3 report-2022, it received nearly 20,000 BEC complaints in 2021, with an accumulated loss of almost $2.4 billion. It’s also shocking to know that as of mid-2022, losses from BEC scams have surpassed $43 billion. That’s why you must educate yourself and your team about outbound DMARC email security. This blog discusses all this in detail.

Risks Associated With Outbound Email

Threat actors take advantage of irresponsible user behaviour and unsecured email accounts to attack your employees, prospects, customers, and other stakeholders. Let’s see what the common risks associated with email outbound are. 

Data Breach or Leakage

The database is crucial to every organization. Data leakage or data breach disrupts operations and jeopardizes your company’s image. Hackers attempt it by gaining access to your SMTP or Simple Mail Transfer Protocol server, the channel through which all outbound email goes. They crack your authentication mechanisms to access emails to steal and intercept sensitive and confidential information. 

They can also plan a ransomware attack by encrypting the data and demanding a hefty ransom in exchange for a decryption key. You can read how to recover from a ransomware attack here.

Spamming and Phishing

If a bad actor successfully accesses your SMTP server, they are likely to use it to send malicious emails in your company’s name. Since these emails are sent from a legitimate domain, they are likely to land in the inbox instead of the spam folder. This way, they can request sensitive information like financial details, medical details, social security numbers, login credentials, etc. 

Malware Injection

Malware injection is another outbound email security risk where hackers hide malware links or setups in the email content. They get installed on recipients’ devices when they click or download links or attachments. These malware can be used to steal and intercept information, spy, attempt brute force or keyword logging password attacks, etc. 

DOS Attacks

Exploiting SMTP can also help attackers perform Denial of Service or DOS attacks where they flood your server with too many emails, causing it to crash temporarily or permanently. Without outbound email security, DOS attacks are easy to perform as they can disguise warning messages about breaches. 

Best Outbound Email Security Practices

Protecting your business from cybercriminals is important for optimal performance and an untarnished public image. So, it’s better to practice the following email outbound security measures before it’s too late.

Create and Implement an Efficient Cybersecurity Plan

You may already have an outbound email security plan in place, but updating and overseeing it regularly is important. Ensure that it includes policies, recommendations, guidelines, and requirements about using email accounts. For example, it should clearly state how to react when an outbound email spam filter detects an exchange of infected emails from within your company to your contacts.

Educate Your Employees

Establishing policies is useless if you haven’t educated your employees on maintaining optimal outbound email security. Train them on identifying warning signs and taking adequate actions to contain the damage. Start by spreading awareness about detecting and responding to phishing and spam emails. 

They should know what a phishing email looks like so that they don’t proceed ahead with the request made in it. Moreover, you need to ensure your IT team is approachable and capable of handling such issues. 

Install Antivirus Software

Download antivirus software from a credible source (preferably a paid one) to recognize and mitigate risks associated with both inbound and outbound emails. It works by filtering and scanning capabilities to spot malware and other cybersecurity menaces. Some advanced antivirus programs align with the configuration of proxy/ relayer to filter suspicious and spam emails and block them from entering your and your employees’ inboxes. This outbound email security practice minimizes the chances of an employee opening or downloading a malicious attachment by mistake. 

Implement Password Policies

Hackers use techniques to crack passwords to access your email accounts. Thus, you and your employees must secure all their accounts with unique, strong, and unguessable passwords. A complex password should tick the following checklist:

  • It should be a combination of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and special symbols.
  • It shouldn’t be too obvious to guess, like your pet’s name, phone number, favorite coffee shop, etc.
  • It shouldn’t be used across any other accounts.

Use Outbound Email Security Tools

Most organizations focus on securing inbound emails and overlook the risks associated with email outbound. Using outbound email spam filters ensures no infected emails are sent from within your MSP or your clients’ companies to correspondents.

So, if a threat actor gains access to one of your company’s email accounts, they can send infected emails to people in your address book with nefarious intentions. This will hamper your business reputation, and your outbound gateway can get blocklisted due to a high number of spam emails. 

This is where outbound email security tools rescue you by blocking spam emails when they’re on their way out from your SMTP server.

Improve Outbound Email With SPF, DKIM, and DMARC

You can change your outbound email infrastructure by implementing SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. These email authentication protocols ensure that only authorized entities send emails from your domain. Let’s discuss them briefly:

SPF

SPF is short for Sender Policy Framework. It works by allowing domain owners to specify valid email servers that are permitted to send emails. Today, all the major email providers, such as Microsoft (Outlook), Google (Gmail), Yahoo Mail, AOL, and Hotmail/Outlook Live, support it. 

DKIM

DKIM is an acronym for DomainKeys Identified Mail, a protocol in which digital signatures are created on some of your email headers. These are then cryptographically authenticated by recipients’ servers. If the signature is valid, it specifies that the message wasn’t altered during the transfer. 

DMARC

DMARC, or Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance, is a protocol that confirms if an email meets the verification standards and generates a report of the same. It tells remote servers how to handle emails that fail SPF or DKIM checks.

outbound email security

  • About
  • Latest Posts
Ahona Rudra
Digital Marketing & Content Writer Manager at PowerDMARC
Ahona works as a Digital Marketing and Content Writer Manager at PowerDMARC. She is a passionate writer, blogger, and marketing specialist in cybersecurity and information technology.
Latest posts by Ahona Rudra (see all)
  • Web Security 101 – Best Practices and Solutions - November 29, 2023
  • What is Email Encryption and What are its Various Types? - November 29, 2023
  • What is MTA-STS? Setup the Right MTA STS Policy - November 25, 2023
December 19, 2022/by Ahona Rudra
Tags: email outbound, outbound dmarc email security, outbound email security
Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share by Mail

Secure Your Email

Stop Email Spoofing and Improve Email Deliverability

15-day Free trial!


Categories

  • Blogs
  • News
  • Press Releases

Latest Blogs

  • Web Security 101 - Best Practices and Solutions
    Web Security 101 – Best Practices and SolutionsNovember 29, 2023 - 4:52 pm
  • What-is-Email-Encryption-and-What-are-its-Various-Types
    What is Email Encryption and What are its Various Types?November 29, 2023 - 12:39 pm
  • mta sts blog
    What is MTA-STS? Setup the Right MTA STS PolicyNovember 25, 2023 - 3:02 pm
  • outbound email security
    DMARC Black Friday: Fortify Your Emails This Holiday SeasonNovember 23, 2023 - 8:00 pm
logo footer powerdmarc
SOC2 GDPR PowerDMARC GDPR comliant crown commercial service
global cyber alliance certified powerdmarc csa

Knowledge

What is Email Authentication?
What is DMARC?
What is DMARC Policy?
What is SPF?
What is DKIM?
What is BIMI?
What is MTA-STS?
What is TLS-RPT?
What is RUA?
What is RUF?
AntiSpam vs DMARC
DMARC Alignment
DMARC Compliance
DMARC Enforcement
BIMI Implementation Guide
Permerror
MTA-STS & TLS-RPT Implementation Guide

Tools

Free DMARC Record Generator
Free DMARC Record Checker
Free SPF Record Generator
Free SPF Record Lookup
Free DKIM Record Generator
Free DKIM Record Lookup
Free BIMI Record Generator
Free BIMI Record Lookup
Free FCrDNS Record Lookup
Free TLS-RPT Record Checker
Free MTA-STS Record Checker
Free TLS-RPT Record Generator

Product

Product Tour
Features
PowerSPF
PowerBIMI
PowerMTA-STS
PowerTLS-RPT
PowerAlerts
Reputation Monitoring
API Documentation
Managed Services
Email Spoofing Protection
Brand Protection
Anti Phishing
DMARC for Office365
DMARC for Google Mail GSuite
DMARC for Zimbra
Free DMARC Training

Try Us

Contact Us
Free Trial
Book Demo
Partnership
Pricing
FAQ
Support
Blog
Events
Feature Request
Change Log
System Status

  • Français
  • Dansk
  • Nederlands
  • Deutsch
  • Русский
  • Polski
  • Español
  • Italiano
  • 日本語
  • 中文 (简体)
  • Português
  • Norsk
  • Svenska
  • 한국어
© PowerDMARC is a registered trademark.
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Contact us
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Security Policy
  • Compliance
  • GDPR Notice
  • Sitemap
DKIM Selector2 Not Working for Microsoft 365 DomainDKIM Selector2 Not Working for Microsoft 365 Domain 01DMARC Training How to become an Email Authentication Expert 01DMARC Training: How to become an Email Authentication Expert?
Scroll to top