Less than five percent of Fortune 500 companies are using the latest email standards

Phishing is one of the most common methods of launching a cyberattack, yet new research from Red Sift shows that only a small percentage of publicly traded companies have fully adopted the latest email standards that could protect them and their customers.

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance) and BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) help prevent spoofing and allow businesses to display their logo on authenticated emails.

However, based on an analysis of more than 66 million domains, Red Sift's report shows that among the Fortune 500 although 49.9 percent have implemented DMARC only 3.2 percent have fully implemented BIMI.

Among the S&P 500, 51.2 percent have implemented DMARC but just 2.4 percent have implemented BIMI. Indeed of he 66 million domains analyzed in total, only 2.2 percent are BIMI-ready.

It's the finance and retail industries are leading the way for full BIMI adoption, yet BIMI offers a host of benefits for businesses beyond security, including improved brand visibility, increased trust in email legitimacy, and better brand recall. It's even been shown to have an impact on consumer buying behavior.

This month Apple joined Google, Yahoo, La Poste, and Fastmail as major mail providers supporting BIMI. As a result, it will be possible for almost 90 percent of consumers to gain the visual trust mentioned above by viewing logos in emails.

To fully take advantage of the benefits of BIMI logo display in email clients, companies must obtain a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) from an approved certificate authority. This appears to be the stumbling block that is stopping firms making the jump from BIMI ready with DMARC to full BIMI implementation.

Red Sift's senior director of alliances and partnerships, Brian Westnedge, writes on the company’s blog, "All of these statistics show clear evidence that the carrot of logo display in email offered by the world’s largest email platform providers to domain owners is just now starting to motivate organizations of all sizes to take the leap of faith that BIMI is indeed the future of email security."

You can read more on the Red Sift blog.

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