Gmail starts protecting users from spammers
In late October 2023 Google announced that it was going to start hardening its email security, in a post titled New Gmail protections for a safer, less spammy inbox. The focus of this article was around email validation, authentication best practices, easy unsubscribe and ensuring legitimate deliverability to its network, which all targeted bulk senders.
Google already has one of the best AI-powered defences which stops more than 99.9% spam, phishing and malware. The new policy was set up to put the liability on senders to ensure that Gmail users were getting legitimate emails, not spoofed email.
Fast-forward to 2024 and emails are bouncing back
E-mail security and authenticity is first priority
As we welcomed 2024, not so long ago, we were ready to kick-start the year with a bang! But then came the bounce backs, and most small business throughout Melbourne didn’t know what to do. That same user that they had just email the other day was no longer able to receive their email. The senders were at a loss and couldn’t decipher the bounce back email.
Google was not to blame, however, the flaw was with their cybersecurity and email authenticity. These small businesses were not aware that they needed to have more robust email security and deliverability infrastructure in-place. Our IT support consultants from Melbourne were dispatched to implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC policies to guarantee email deliverability.
My business doesn't send Spam, so why am I being blocked?
You’re right, your business doesn’t send spam emails, especially not in bulk. So why are you being blocked and flagged? Unbeknownst to you, one of your IT assets, the most likely of which, your website, maybe doing just that. A lot of small businesses in Melbourne and around Australia don’t take security seriously enough. If we don’t look after our IT assets, a security breach is very likely to occur.
Is your website sending spam?
One of your most vulnerable IT assets, which is likely to send out a lot of spam, unknowingly, is your website. Your website operates on our primary domain, which is linked to your email infrastructure. So if you have a contact form on your website, which sends a confirmation email back to the user or bot who submitted the request, it could be classified as spam, or worse yet phishing.
Secure your website and increase domain reputation
The contact form on your website isn’t the only thing that is vulnerable. If you are using WordPress or a similar open-source website building platform, it needs to be maintained. Security patches for its core, theme’s and plugins are released all the time. It’s imperative to back up your website, install the security and quality of life updates and test.
