Most Federal Contractors Aren’t Using DMARC to Secure Their Emails

U.S. federal government agencies are required to use the email security protocol DMARC to prevent email spoofing, but the overwhelming majority of federal contractors either don’t have it installed or don’t have it set up properly. NextGov reports:

Among the top 98 government contractors by dollar value, only 45 have properly installed the tool known as DMARC and only five have set it up to quarantine or reject spoofed or phishing emails that might contain malware, according to an analysis by the company ValiMail.

That means 93 of those companies are more vulnerable to phishing and spoofed emails, which might endanger those contractors’ federal clients—even if those agencies have installed DMARC themselves.

What Is DMARC?

Domain-Based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance is an email authentication and reporting protocol that protects against email spoofing, phishing, and spamming by verifying the authenticity of a sender’s identity. It was first proposed in 2012, and it is receiving a lot of attention right now because the U.S. DHS mandated that all second-level federal agency domains have valid DMARC records by January 15, 2018.

DMARC can be thought of as the top layer of a trio of protocols and technologies to strengthen email security. It builds on the Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) protocols. SPF hardens DNS servers and ensures that only authorized users are permitted to send emails from a domain. DKIM prevents the contents of emails from being compromised.

DMARC ties SPF and DKIM together with a consistent set of policies. A DMARC policy allows a sender domain to specify if its emails use SPF, DKIM, or both. If the authentication fails, the incoming email is either rejected or directed to a spam folder, depending on how the policy is configured. The intended recipient then has an option to report the incident to the sending domain so that their security team can investigate the incident.

Right now, U.S. federal agencies are required only to have DMARC installed at a monitoring level, but by October 16, 2018, they must set their policies to “reject.”

The Shortfalls of DMARC

For DMARC to work, both the sender and recipient domains must have it configured properly. While DMARC adoption is growing exponentially, it is not yet universal, even among very large companies. NextGov reports that some of the federal contractors who have failed to properly set up DMARC are major multinational corporations.

Configuring DMARC, SPF, and DKIM is tedious and can be very tricky, especially for companies that have a lot of domains and subdomains or that use cloud services – which is pretty much everyone these days. Once the protocols are set up, they must be maintained and managed, and procedures must be implemented to deal with warnings and incident reports. Many companies do not have the in-house expertise or resources to handle this work.

Finally, while DMARC is an important email security protocol, it is not a panacea or a standalone solution. DMARC protects only against direct domain spoofing; it stops cyber criminals from using yourname.com to send spam and phishing emails. However, it doesn’t prevent criminals from using another, very similar domain that could trick users, such as yourename.com, or from using a fake name in the “from” field. The latter is of particular concern for mobile users, as mobile devices often display only an email sender’s name, not their email address.

DMARC is not the do-all, end-all of email security, and email security is only one component of enterprise cyber security. It’s important to partner with a reputable, experienced cyber security firm such as Lazarus Alliance to assess all your risks and vulnerabilities and secure all your systems, not just your email servers.

The cyber security experts at Lazarus Alliance have deep knowledge of the cyber security field, are continually monitoring the latest information security threats, and are committed to protecting organizations of all sizes from security breaches. Our full-service risk assessment services and Continuum GRC RegTech software will help protect your organization from data breaches, ransomware attacks, and other cyber threats.

Lazarus Alliance is proactive cyber security®. Call 1-888-896-7580 to discuss your organization’s cyber security needs and find out how we can help your organization adhere to cyber security regulations, maintain compliance, and secure your systems.

Cyber security is key to a sustainable, future-proof digital transformation

The rise of ecommerce, particularly mobile ecommerce, has fundamentally altered both consumer and business buying habits. Organizations are embracing digital transformation in an effort to appease modern buyers and enhance the customer experience while cutting costs and improving efficiency. The 2018 State of Digital Business Transformation survey by IDG found that 89% of organizations have either adopted or plan to adopt a digital-first strategy.

While cutting-edge technologies such as the IoT and IIoT, cloud computing and multi-cloud networks, and low-code platforms provide great benefits to organizations and their customers, they also gift cyber criminals a much larger attack surface. Today’s hackers are more skilled, educated, and well-funded than ever, and the attacks they launch are highly organized, complex and, if successful, destructive. In a survey of IT business leaders by Frost & Sullivan, respondents listed cyber security as their top challenge to navigating digital transformation.

Despite these concerns, too many organizations still view cyber security as an afterthought at best, a stumbling block to innovation at worst. Security can get pushed to the wayside in the rush to implement the day’s newest, shiniest technologies. However, digital transformation isn’t supposed to focus on what’s hip and trendy now; the goal is to ensure that your organization is prepared not just for today’s trends but tomorrow’s opportunities through implementing sustainable, future-proof solutions, and cyber security plays a critical role in this process. Here are a few best practices for integrating cyber security into your digital transformation plans.

Integrate Cyber Security from the Beginning

Digital transformation involves implementing new technology and finding new uses for existing technology. However, application security is often addressed very late in the software development lifecycle (SDLC). Three-quarters of security and IT professionals surveyed by Dimensional Research felt that security was addressed “too late in the [development] process, and [applications] must be retrofitted after key decisions have been made.”

Attempting to secure an application late in the SDLC makes the entire process more complex, resulting in delays, budget overruns, or possibly even a failed project. Cyber security should be baked into the SDLC of every digital transformation initiative from the beginning so that potential risks can be identified and addressed early on, and applications can be patched as new cyber threats emerge post-deployment.

Involve Your Security Team in All Important Decisions

Often, cyber security personnel are not included in marketing or business meetings, even though critical decisions are made that impact the technical aspects of the digital transformation initiative. Worse, the security team may not be included in IT meetings or involved in the project at all; only 18% of respondents to the Dimensional Research study reported cyber security personnel being involved in all digital transformation initiatives.

If security personnel are not present to provide input at critical junctures of the project, the end result could be an application that is riddled with security holes. Instead of having security experts swoop in only after an attack has occurred, organizations should take a proactive approach, involve their security teams in all project meetings and decisions, and prevent attacks from happening in the first place.

Don’t Forget the Human Factor

The weakest link in any organization’s cyber security is its own people. Often, organizations lean too heavily on technology to defend against cyber attacks, train only their IT staff on cyber security best practices, or both. Every employee who touches a computer must be trained on cyber security best practices, and the organization must adopt a security-first culture on all levels, from the C-suite down to the reception desk. The human factor is also another reason to involve security at all junctures of a digital transformation initiative; one aspect of secure development is to design applications in such a way as to limit the ability of human error or malicious acts to open up the system to cyber attacks.

Integrating proactive cyber security into digital transformation efforts from the very beginning and creating a security-first culture on all levels of the organization doesn’t just protect against hacks; it also ensures that digital transformation efforts are sustainable and future-proof.

The cyber security experts at Lazarus Alliance have deep knowledge of the cyber security field, are continually monitoring the latest information security threats, and are committed to protecting organizations of all sizes from security breaches. Our full-service risk assessment services and Continuum GRC RegTech software will help protect your organization from data breaches, ransomware attacks, and other cyber threats.

Lazarus Alliance is proactive cyber security®. Call 1-888-896-7580 to discuss your organization’s cyber security needs and find out how we can help your organization adhere to cyber security regulations, maintain compliance, and secure your systems.

Phishing Attacks Aren’t Just About Email Anymore

Phishing attacks are big business. The FBI estimates that business email compromise, a highly targeted form of phishing, costs U.S. businesses half a billion dollars a year, and the Verizon 2018 Data Breach Investigations Report found that 90% of cyber attacks began with a phishing scam.

While phishing attacks happen every day, cyber criminals often take advantage of major holidays, events, or news stories to launch “themed” campaigns. For example, the recent GDPR compliance deadline prompted businesses around the world to send emails to their customers notifying them of privacy policy changes or asking them to provide consent for further communications. Phishers latched on to this, sending phony notices warning customers that their accounts would be terminated if they didn’t click on a link to “update their records.”

Meanwhile, in the UK, phishers are taking advantage of recent system outages at TSB Bank to send out mass emails and text messages to TSB customers, some of whom they are apparently identifying through complaints lodged on social media sites. The victims are instructed to click on a [phony] link and enter their account user name and password so that their complaints can be “processed,” and the hackers use this information to empty the account.

While most people associate the word “phishing” with scam emails, phishing attacks can take on many forms, including:

• Text messaging, as in the TSB Bank phishing attacks.
• Phone calls requesting account credentials, credit card information, and other sensitive personal data.
• Malware hidden in web freeware or in apps downloaded from app stores.
• Social media chat and messaging apps, such as Facebook Messenger, Twitter, and WhatsApp.
• Phony social media profiles that “friend” victims and seek to harvest information.
• Even social media memes and “quizzes” can be used for phishing purposes.

How to Fight Back Against Phishing Attacks

Employee awareness is the most important factor in preventing successful phishing attacks. Use penetration testing to identify who is most likely to need extra training. Verizon reported that while 78% of people did not click on a single phishing email all year, an average of 4% will click – and those same people tend to be repeat offenders.

Technical measures to combat phishing attacks include implementing email sandboxing solutions that check the safety of emailed links when users click on them; disabling macros from running on all machines on your network; and inspecting and analyzing all of your web traffic in real time.

Other proactive anti-phishing measures include:

• Never post personal information, such ask your birthday, vacation plans, or your address or phone number, on social media.
• Do not accept social media friend requests from users who you have never heard of, especially if you have no common friends. Never click on links sent to you by new “friends” almost immediately after accepting their request.
• Never click on links or open attachments – even if they appear to have been sent by a known contact – where the message body is blank or includes only one line that doesn’t explain what is going on, such as “Check this out!” or “Can you look at this for me?” Your contact’s account may have been hacked.
• If you receive an email or social media message from a contact you know, but something seems “off,” contact that source directly, with a new email; do not simply hit “reply.”
• Never respond to social media memes or “quizzes” that ask personal questions such as, “What was your first car?” or “Where was your first job?” While innocuous-sounding, these are common account security questions.
• Always check the spelling of URLs in email links before clicking.
• Watch out for URL redirects, where you are subtly redirected to a different website with identical design.
• If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is, including “coupons” on social media for free or deeply discounted products, phone calls or texts claiming that you won a free cruise/airline tickets/vacation, or any message claiming that you won a “contest” you never entered.

The cyber security experts at Lazarus Alliance have deep knowledge of the cyber security field, are continually monitoring the latest information security threats, and are committed to protecting organizations of all sizes from security breaches. Our full-service risk assessment services and Continuum GRC RegTech software will help protect your organization from data breaches, ransomware attacks, and other cyber threats.

Lazarus Alliance is proactive cyber security®. Call 1-888-896-7580 to discuss your organization’s cyber security needs and find out how we can help your organization adhere to cyber security regulations, maintain compliance, and secure your systems.