Retailers are probably receiving more than they bargained for this year with the increase of phishing scams targeting the industry. With Christmas around the corner, the risk of phishing is even greater.
Phishing is the act of an email, text message, or phone call requesting confidential information. Phishing is becoming more sophisticated and difficult to spot.
Phishing scams could end up costing businesses big time over Christmas, Black Friday and other times of high sales. If a scammer successfully steals a business’s customer information, then that company could end up losing a lot of money.
But how would phishing affect your business? It could lead to customers cancelling their subscriptions with you, which would impact your revenue. You could also run the risk of some customers taking their business elsewhere.
Knowing what to look for and how to protect your business is essential. 101 Data Solutions works with Red Sift to provide DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) technology to companies as a means to combat phishing, spam, and malware.
The most recent phishing scams have been on retailers. These scams are usually carried out by hackers who steal login information from one retailer’s website and use it to access other retailers’ databases. They can then sell this login information to help people access the retailers’ databases.
Some of these phishing emails are even disguised as legitimate emails from the retailer itself. Unfortunately, this makes it difficult to tell the difference between legitimate emails and phishing emails.
These emails are sent to deceive recipients into revealing personal information, transferring money, or purchasing products. According to Google, “Consumers are more likely to fall for phishing if the email is personalised for them, if the sender is someone they know, or if the sender’s address looks similar to an established company’s address.”
The good news is that there are automated ways to detect and prevent email spoofing. In partnership with Red Sift, 101 Data Solutions has helped many companies mitigate these attacks using DMARC.
How does DMARC technology help?
DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance) is an effective tool against phishing emails for businesses this time of year when fraudulent messages are more frequent.
Organisations that want to protect against phishing emails can implement DMARC, a service that 101 Data Solutions can provide in conjunction with Red Sift.
A company can use DMARC technology to stop phishing email attacks by limiting the amount of allowed email. When a company blocks an email that they believe might be a phishing email, they will send a “reject message” back to the sender. This stops the email from being delivered, and it also alerts the sender that their email was rejected. A company could also choose to block any emails coming from a specific domain or send more than one message per day.
101 Data Solutions and partner Red Sift work with businesses to implement DMARC technology to identify phishing emails and block them before they ever reach recipients’ inboxes. In addition, DMARC allows email senders to authenticate themselves so recipients can tell whether an email came from an authorised source. This means that when a retailer receives a phishing email, they can check the email’s authenticity and block it if it’s not legitimate.
DMARC helps detect and prevent fraudulent messages by breaking them into their parts and comparing them to the organisation’s policies. Suppose the message doesn’t conform to the organisation’s policy. In that case, DMARC can take various steps: reject the message outright, quarantine it for analysis, or even send it back to the sender with a notice about the problem.
In conclusion, DMARC technology is a great way to mitigate phishing. Of course, there are many ways to avoid being a victim of a phishing email, but this is an easy way to put the power in your hands. For more information about implementing DMARC, please get in touch with 101 Data Solutions.
