UK charities rely heavily on emails, whether for internal communication or to contact donors. This is just one of the many reasons cyber security is important, especially when less than 1% of charities in the UK are protected against mail fraud and phishing attacks, a staggering figure reported by Red Sift.

From the more than 78,000 email domains analysed, fewer than 1% had email authentication procedures with DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) in place to protect their charity and their donors from cyber-attacks.

With charities handling a wealth of personal information and large economic contributions, it is crucial for them to ensure they can protect themselves against these types of attacks.

Red Sift believes in helping charities to protect themselves when it comes to email cyber security, which is why they’re offering OnDMARC, which will be free to all registered charities in the UK.

The idea behind this is to offer charities the means to keep their email and, therefore, their information, safe. This solution allows employers and employees to easily use DMRC, which is a powerful security protocol for protecting email and blocking phishing attacks.

This programme makes sure that only sources you trust can send emails on behalf of your business; potential attackers are also more likely to avoid targeting your charity if they know you have DMARC protection.

According to Philip Reitinger, President and CEO of the Global Cyber Alliance, a non-profit that attempts to reduce the risks to cyber-attacks, “DMARC is a powerful tool to help combat some of the difficult to detect types of email fraud.”

The OnDMARC solution is simple and doesn’t require cyber security knowledge from users. This means that all charities can use and benefit from it.

OnDMARC uses artificial intelligence to classify reports sent to the domain owner, identifying unauthorised emails and blocking phishing attempts. The deliverability of authorised emails will also grow.

Since 91% of cyber-attacks begin with phishing (and 97% of people can’t correctly identify a phishing email), it’s now more important than ever that charities can defend themselves against them. This protocol can help you to achieve the desired protection.

The efficiency of this programme is easy to see – and prove. The UK National Cyber Security Centre requires that all government agencies implement DMARC. The HM Revenue & Customs has already blocked 300 million phishing emails since DMARC implementation in 2016.

Technology plays an important role in UK charities, whether it’s cyber security or in the everyday running of these organisations. At Charity Retail Systems, we can provide you with the latest EPoS technology for your business, which can help you to grow it. Book a demo to learn more about our CHARiot systems and enjoy the benefits it brings!