Email authentication so simple even your Grandma could understand it!

Email authentication So simple even your Grandma could understand it! What is email authentication? Due to the way emails were designed, they are vulnerable to being 'forged.' In other words, our emails can be hijacked so that we think they're from somebody we trust - whereas they're actually being sent by some- body who's trying to steal our details or trans- mit malicious software. Authentication is the process by which email providers - e.g. Outlook, Gmail, AOL - ensure emails ally from the sender. It also confirms that the email message itself hasn't been modified, hacked or forged along the way. Emails are often Email authentication secures the rejected and end up in your recipient's Spam folder if they can't be authenticated. emails you send and gives you the best possible chance of hitting the inbox - and not the Spam folder! Why is email authentication important? 77% of customers say they prefer to receive permission-based marketing communications through email. 77% ExactTarget. 44% of email recipients made at least one purchase in 2012 based on a promotional email. 44% CONVINCE&CONVERT 82% of consumers say they open emails from companies 82% litmus In 2014 1.2billion unique usernames and passwords were broken into in what tech experts describe as "largest data breach" in the internet's history. 1.2 billion express.co.uk "The e-mail accounts belong to more than 500 million people across the globe and 500 range from consumers to small businesses and large multi-national firms." express.co.uk million Spam & authentication 84% of all email traffici 156 million phishing I emails are sent every i day, and 16 million ! make it through filters. is Spam. (Radicati) 156 million Spam 8 million are opened. (getcybersafe.ca) 8 million Getting your message through GMail The percentage of email authenticated by Gmail when not using recommended DKIM settings. 0% by Google The percentage of authenticated 91.4 emails sent to Gmail users by legitimate senders. This means billions of unauthenticated email messages are now prevent- ed from entering users' inboxes. (Emails sent to Gmail must be authenticated using DKIM or SPF) The damage of an attack When a brand is targeted by a phishing attack, its customers are 42% less likely to do business with them again online. It's been estimated that a phishing attack which affects 500 customer accounts can cost upwards of $1.4 million. This includes the direct financial loss of funds, plus the strain on internal resources to manage and investigate the incident. As more and more domains use authentication, hackers are forced to target those that don't. Make sure you are protected! How does authentication work? DKIM - DomainKeys Identified Email These two scary sounding phrases are the main email authentication standards. SPF - Sender Policy Framework DKIM is a method of securing emails through 'digital signing' as they are sent by mail servers. SPF helps prevent 'From addresses' being forged and emails being sent from un- known mail servers." Adopting email standards Since 2004, industry groups and standard organisations have been developing email authentication standards to prevent email impersonation. Nearly a decade later, adoption of these standards is widespread across the industry. Unauthenticated DKIM only 8.6% 2.25% SPF only 14.4% DKIM & SPF 74.7% (Source: Gmail 2013) For example, over 91% of legitimate emails sent to Gmail users come from senders that have implemented DKIM, SPF or both authentication standards. The journey of an email illı Bounced or rejected Identify yourself ISP doesn't want the email Sending domain & IP address GMail by Google YAHOO! o Aol. ill. Junk Inbox (Simplified to show only a few important delivery considerations) The email marketing solution for agencies. ingtiller Sign-up for a free 14 day trial at instiller.co.uk Follow us on Twitter @instilleresp