{"id":21398,"date":"2021-03-10T13:26:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-10T10:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saudishopper.com.sa\/en\/?p=21398"},"modified":"2026-03-27T20:42:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T17:42:21","slug":"major-middle-east-companies-leaving-customers-at-risk-of-email-fraud-proofpoint-and-help-ag-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saudishopper.com.sa\/en\/major-middle-east-companies-leaving-customers-at-risk-of-email-fraud-proofpoint-and-help-ag-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Major Middle East Companies Leaving Customers at Risk of Email Fraud: Proofpoint and Help AG Study"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

76% of the Top 100 companies in the Middle East are not proactively blocking fraudulent emails from reaching customers  <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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DUBAI, March 10, 2021 –<\/strong> Proofpoint, Inc.<\/a> (NASDAQ: PFPT), a leading next-generation cybersecurity and compliance company, in collaboration with its strategic partner Help AG<\/a>, the cybersecurity arm of Etisalat Digital, today released research identifying that almost a third (31%) of the Forbes Top 100 Middle East Companies do not have a Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC) record in place, leaving their customers at risk of email fraud. The lack of a DMARC record makes companies potentially more susceptible to cybercriminals spoofing their identity and increases the risk of email fraud targeting their customers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

More worryingly, only a quarter (24%) of the Top 100 Middle East Companies have \u2018reject\u2019 in place, which means a large majority (76%) are not proactively blocking fraudulent emails from reaching customers. Reject is the strictest and recommended level of DMARC protection, a setting, and policy that actively blocks fraudulent emails from reaching their intended target.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Email is and will continue to be, the initial attack vector of choice for cybercriminals.\u00a0In fact, recent Proofpoint research on CISOs and CSOs in the UAE illustrated that 15% of organizations suffered a phishing attack in 2019, with an additional 15% suffering a Business Email Compromise (BEC) attack.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n


For many organizations, the road to easing email fraud risk is paved with\u00a0DMARC,\u00a0an email protocol being adopted globally as the passport control of the email security world. It verifies that the purported domain of the sender has not been impersonated. DMARC verification relies on the established DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) and SPF (Sender Policy Framework) standards to ensure the email is not spoofing the domain.\u00a0DMARC is designed to protect\u00a0employees, customers, and partners from cybercriminals looking to impersonate a trusted domain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DMARC Adoption Across Top 100 Middle East Companies <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To gauge how quickly the DMARC standard is being adopted across the Middle East, Proofpoint, in collaboration with Help AG, analyzed the primary corporate domains of all of the\u00a0Forbes Top 100 Middle East Companies<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key findings include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n