A quarter of Australia’s top 100 online retailers do not have sufficient measures in place to protect shoppers from cybercrime through email fraud.

Retail analyst Proofpoint looked at Power Retail’s Top 100 Retailers for 2022 and discovered that a quarter of these stores haven’t implemented the widely-used DMARC protocol that protects domain names from being exploited by malicious actors.

Without a DMARC in place, hackers can send believable emails from a retailer’s domain, leading to customers being confused.

“Email is a widely used marketing tool and therefore a popular channel for cyber criminals to leverage to conduct large-scale phishing campaigns to steal personal information or credit card details that can then be used to engage in identity and financial fraud,” explained Proofpoint Senior Director, Advanced Technology Group, Asia Pacific and Japan, Steve Moros.

“DMARC is widely viewed as best-practice in preventing suspicious emails from reaching the inbox, yet our research shows one in four retailers aren’t protected.

“This leaves them open to being impersonated by cyber criminals who can then deliver malicious emails to consumers’ inboxes.”

Proofpoint’s research further found:

  • 23 per cent of online retailers have implemented the highest level of protection to reject suspicious emails from reaching consumers’ inboxes
  • 43 per cent of online retailers have implemented a monitor policy, meaning unqualified emails still get to the recipient’s inbox
  • 9 per cent have implemented a quarantine policy to direct unqualified emails to spam/junk folders

“The influx of emails from brands offering great deals during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping period makes it an opportune time for cyber criminals to capitalise on the spike in email traffic and target shoppers with creative and convincing lures,” continued Moros.

“As Australians search the internet and check their inboxes for the latest shopping bargains, it’s important to remain vigilant and keep safe shopping practices front of mind.”