Trusted Brand Trends and Predictions for 2019
Email is the number one communication tool used by organisations, with 72% of consumers* preferring email as the primary communication method with brands. It’s also reported that on average for every $1 spent on email, the ROI is $44*.
For this reason, having a trusted brand, whereby consumers know your email is reliable and genuine is invaluable. In this blog post, we take a look at the key trusted brand trends and predictions for 2019.
Australian organisations still slow to adopt DMARC email authentication standard
From October to December 2018 Agari reported 22.9 new phishing attacks per minute, targeting consumers every day and costing organisations almost $1.4 billion each year. Despite this increasing brand deception problem, only 7% of the ASX100 have their DMARC policy set to reject.
Failing to implement a reject DMARC policy makes organisations an easy target to cybercriminals, as your record is publicly available. Setting your DMARC policy to reject is free for organisations but does involve some complexity. For instance, you need complete visibility of any third party domains sending on your organisation’s behalf, and once the policy is set to reject the raw data you receive can be difficult to make sense of and understand what it means for your business.
InfoTrust is an expert in this email authentication space and has helped many large enterprise organisations such as; Department of Human Services, Origin Energy and large financial institutions to get their DMARC policy to reject. Using Agari’s Brand Protection solution, they have gained visibility of their authorised third party and unauthorised senders. These organisations receive alerts as to when cybercriminals are trying to send emails with look-alike domains and regular actionable insights on their outbound email ecosystem. To find out more about the Agari Brand Protect solution click here.
Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) to gain even more traction
Last year BIMI standard was introduced as a way to enable businesses to authenticate their B2C email even further by allowing brands to visibly show the authenticity of their email communication by adding their logo against email in consumers’ inboxes. Last quarter there was a 69% increase^ in brand adoption of the standard, with large enterprise organisations such as Yahoo and Groupon leading the way. As shown in the image.
The logo itself must be verified by the sender and also the recipient’s email system, so it guarantees the authenticity of the message. We predict that 2019 will see exponential adoption of this standard as organisations will see it as an easy way to garner trust with consumers and suppliers alike. As larger brands adopt the standard, consumers will most likely start to question the authenticity of email without the brand logo visible, making the idea of a ‘trusted inbox” where only legitimate email will be received more of a reality.
Improved email deliverability
By enforcing standards such as DMARC and BIMI, organisations experience the by-product of improved email deliverability and amplified email performance. According to Forrester research** companies that have implemented a DMARC record at p=reject saw consumer email response rates increase by 10% and conversion rates grow to 4%. By utilising BIMI companies could see an even further increase in customer engagement by giving a visual cue that their email communication is authentic and can be trusted.
Compliance with data handling legislation
Another trend from 2018 is that consumers are becoming more aware of their rights on how businesses should be handling their data. With the introduction of the GDPR regulation early last year within the EU, consumers have greater control dictating to businesses how their data can be used and also, that they have the right to request an organisation to delete their information completely.
We predict that in 2019 this will go even further, with the Australian government announcing last month that they will be reviewing the Privacy Act penalties later this year to increase them up to $10 million. Consumers will expect more organisations to take a proactive approach to these legislation changes and demonstrate that they take their customer’s data privacy seriously to garner favour and trust.
Sources
*Marketing Profs – Ultimate Email Marketing Cheatsheet Facts
^Agari Email Fraud & Identity Deception Trends Q1 2019 Report
**Forrester Research: The Total Economic Impact of Agari Brand Protection
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Mimecast recently released its State of Email Security Report for 2021. The fifth edition of its annual report used interviews with over twelve hundred of information technology and cybersecurity professionals across the globe to gather vital cybersecurity insights. The report offers an insight into the latest email threats along with advice on how to build cyber resilience and mitigate the risks of email-borne attacks.
Cyber attacks and data breaches have been commonplace in the news headlines for some time now. Although a warning from the media is certainly helpful, there is so much more that can be done when it comes to threat intelligence sharing. Threat intelligence sharing is an important part of the global cybersecurity community effort to tackle cybercrime and should form a part of every organisation’s cybersecurity strategy. Sharing cyber threat intelligence enables organisations to make informed decisions about their cybersecurity, building more effective and robust cyber defences.
One of my favourite annual reports to read is the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report. It’s packed full of insights about the threat landscape and security leaders, in my opinion, should read this report to get a pulse on what’s happening in cyber-scape.
After all, as cyber leaders, we are here to stop breaches – so the insights gained from real cyber incidents and breaches is gold in learning how to tighten up our defences.
All businesses, large and small, are under increasing pressure to demonstrate that they are managing the risk of cyberattacks. This means having the right processes and controls in place to identify risks and vulnerabilities, protect information, as well as detect, respond, and recover in the event of cybersecurity incidents. As such, many businesses are turning to certification authorities and security frameworks to demonstrate privacy and security best practice and achieve compliance with regulatory bodies. System and Organisation Controls (SOC 2) is one such compliance framework that can help organisations to create a structured approach to cybersecurity.
Frost & Sullivan has recently released its 2021 Frost Radar: Email Security report, where its findings provide a benchmarking framework to help businesses protect their email from cyber threats.
As we operate in an increasingly digital world, every business collect, store, and share more and more data. And, amongst that data is personal information. With the OAIC marking this year’s Privacy Awareness Week (PAW) from Monday 3 May to Sunday 9 May 2021, it’s time for us all to review how we protect our customers’ personal information.
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