Click here for more information from Mimecast<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\u201cCybercriminals are acutely aware of the ease with which they can register lookalike domains and launch sophisticated attacks impersonating trusted brands that are nearly indistinguishable from the real thing. It\u2019s become common for malicious actors to use our favourite retailers or other loved brands and services to trick people into handing over money or sensitive information. And it\u2019s becoming harder for these brands to continue to avoid responsibility,\u201d said Mikey Molfessis cybersecurity expert at Mimecast, who added that local concerns outweigh global averages, with 47% of local organisations admitting they are very concerned about an attack that directly spoofs their email domain, compared to a global average of 40%.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s critical that organisations look beyond the perimeter to determine how threat actors are damaging their brands online. As a start, they need to adopt Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC),\u201d said Molfessis.<\/p>\n
DMARC is an email validation system designed to uncover anyone using a brand\u2019s domain without authorisation. This means brands can monitor who is sending mails on their behalf and instruct receiving servers to reject unauthorised emails.<\/p>\n
This helps protect receivers from falling victim to fraudulent mails. \u201cIn South Africa, 96% of respondents were aware of DMARC, but only 30% were using it. Perhaps an indication that the importance of using such a solution to protect brand reputation has not yet been realised for many organisations.\u201d<\/p>\n
And while brand protection is certainly on the radar for IT and security decision makers, has its importance reached the rest of the C-suite? The report found that chief information officers (CIOs) and chief information security officers (CISOs) are most likely to control the budget for securing the organisation\u2019s corporate brand from web or email spoofing or other forms of exploitation and impersonation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is an argument to be made for the chief marketing officer to take ownership of this budget since they are typically responsible for their brand\u2019s reputation, but our research revealed this is the case at only 10% of South African organisations,\u201d said Molfessis.<\/p>\n
No matter who manages the budget – whether it’s the CFO, CMO or CIO – what\u2019s critical is having budget set aside for this important element of cybersecurity. And the budget owner also needs to work closely with the organisation\u2019s security leader to make the right purchasing decisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cConsidering nearly 4 in 10 South African organisations expect the volume of web or email spoofing attacks to increase in the next 12 months, it makes sense to have a dedicated senior resource looking after the organisation\u2019s online brand integrity. Worryingly, 16% of organisations we surveyed didn\u2019t even know if a web or email spoofing attack had used their domains or lookalike domains. This could have devastating effects on the organisation\u2019s brand and reputation if left unchecked. If organisations don\u2019t have the tools to actively look for exploits, or unless someone takes the time to report them, they\u2019re difficult to find which leaves brands none the wiser.\u201d<\/p>\n
Standard web and email security strategies are no longer enough. Organisations need to protect their brands online and ultimately protect their customers and supply chains by preventing fraudulent senders using their domains or lookalike domains.<\/p>\n
Detailed information is now available in the global Mimecast State of Email Security 2020 Report and SA infographic<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Companies are concerned over how their brands are being exploited by cybercriminals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":422166,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10459],"tags":[11528],"class_list":["post-432748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-news","tag-mimecast"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432748"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":432756,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432748\/revisions\/432756"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}