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How can I prevent brand and sender profile impersonation in emails and what actions can I take?

Summary

Preventing brand and sender profile impersonation in emails is a critical challenge for businesses, extending beyond traditional domain spoofing. While technical email authentication protocols like DMARC are fundamental in combating direct domain abuse, they have limitations when it comes to sophisticated brand impersonation that leverages display names, reply-to addresses, or similar-looking domains (typosquatting). This type of abuse often leads to customer complaints and significant damage to brand reputation. Effective prevention requires a multi-faceted approach, combining robust technical measures with active brand monitoring, internal process improvements, and user education.

What email marketers say

Email marketers frequently grapple with brand impersonation, especially when it extends beyond simple domain spoofing to involve sender names and reply-to addresses. They often seek practical advice on how to mitigate the impact of such attacks, which can lead to customer confusion and tarnish brand trust. While technical solutions like DMARC are recognized as crucial, marketers emphasize the challenge of dealing with less technically sophisticated but equally damaging forms of impersonation, where the visual branding or sender name is copied.

Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks indicates they initially hoped BIMI would directly prevent bad actors from using their sender profile information to spam people. They understood BIMI would provide a visual cue like a logo, but they weren't sure how it would stop the underlying impersonation issue.

07 Nov 2022 - Email Geeks

Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks explains their specific challenge involves bad actors using their sender name, reply-to name, and reply-to email address. They noted that these fraudulent emails prominently use their brand, leading to significant customer confusion and complaints.

07 Nov 2022 - Email Geeks

What the experts say

Email deliverability experts highlight that while DMARC is a robust defense against direct domain spoofing, it does not cover all forms of impersonation. They consistently point out the inherent vulnerabilities of unprotected email headers, such as 'Reply-To,' and the pervasive challenge posed by botnets. Experts emphasize the investigative nature of addressing advanced impersonation, often requiring deep technical insight and, at times, legal intervention, despite the high costs and potential for dead ends.

Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks states definitively that BIMI will not stop bad actors from using a sender's profile information to send spam. They clarify that this particular task falls under the purview of DMARC, which is designed to prevent unauthorized domain usage.

07 Nov 2022 - Email Geeks

Expert view

Expert from Word to the Wise confirms that the 'Reply-To' header is not protected by email authentication standards. This means there is no technical measure a sender can implement to prevent a malicious party from forging this specific header, making it a common vector for impersonation.

07 Nov 2022 - Word to the Wise

What the documentation says

Official documentation and industry standards (like RFCs) provide the technical backbone for email authentication, which is the primary defense against impersonation. They define how protocols such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC should be implemented to verify sender authenticity. While these documents detail the mechanisms to prevent domain spoofing, they also implicitly highlight areas where brand impersonation can still occur, particularly concerning human-readable headers not covered by cryptographic signing.

Technical article

Documentation from DMARC.org explains that DMARC enables domain owners to specify what actions recipient email servers should take when an email fails DMARC authentication. This includes rejecting or quarantining messages that falsely claim to be from a domain, thereby preventing unauthorized use of the primary domain.

10 Jan 2024 - DMARC.org

Technical article

Documentation from BIMI.org outlines that BIMI builds upon DMARC. For a brand's logo to appear next to their emails in supported inboxes, the domain must have a DMARC policy set to enforcement (quarantine or reject). This indicates that BIMI serves as a visual trust signal, contingent on strong underlying authentication.

05 Mar 2024 - BIMI.org

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