Hope you’re having a busy and profitable start to 2024..? After the winds of the last few days it’s starting to feel a little like Spring now as the daffodils start to poke through the soil, but I may have just cursed it!
There are some significant changes happening out there in internet-land that may affect you, so happy to follow-up on any of the sections below separately if needed.
Bulk Email Senders – Yahoo & Gmail Change Their Requirements
These two major email houses have announced that they will be tightening their criteria for RECEIVING email from bulk senders (defined as 5,000+ per day by them), in the same manner. We have already started to notice rejections that may be attributed to these incoming new criteria.
It may be that other receivers of email announce their own set of criteria in the coming months, but for now these are the only ones.
So, what do Google and Yahoo now want:
1. Ensure that emails pass SPF and DKIM checks
– previously this would have been an either/or pass level
2. Have a DMARC record, and configured rejection policies
– prevents other people from ‘spoofing’ your email addresses, and defines when to reject emails without correct configurations.
3. Make unsubscribing easy
– Gmail and Yahoo will require that large-volume senders allow recipients to unsubscribe from unwanted emails in one click and that these requests are processed within two days.
4. Comply with the new spam rate threshold
– currently defined as below 0.1%
If you think you may be affected by this (1) & (2) we can help with, via a one-off (usually chargeable) configuration change at the domain level if we have your authorisation and credentials. (3) and (4) are factors of your bulk emailing procedures, so are in your control only.
As we anticipate other providers may announce their own security criteria in due course, we are looking at a separate subscription-based management platform to give you more visibility of what’s happening within your domain on the email front, and so it can be co-managed between us. This will enable more frequent adjustments to be made without incurring individual costs each time and deliver more control at a lower overall cost to you, the Client.
The Human Firewall
Old-school awareness training is still your SECOND BEST line of defence when it comes to preventing Cyber-Security breaches within your Company’s data stack.
Your email filters – your FIRST LINE – have an average 7-10% traditional failure rate letting things through, so you need a strong human firewall as your next line of defence.
Security training and testing (Phishing simulation) is widely available – from us and many other providers – so for the above reason I would thoroughly recommend you consider this if you aren’t doing or providing this in your staff training package already.
Alchemy Achieve ISO27001 – again.
Hard work – yes. Worth it – definitely !!
As our MD said on LinkedIn:
“So satisfying when collective hard work pays off. Very proud of the achievement, and the team.”
Refurbished Laptops & Desktops
Not everyone needs brand spanking new, just released, technology in their business environment. Because of this, we usually have a decent stock of ex-business grade kit – refurbished, reconditioned and updated by our own Technicians – so that we may supply quickly if needed.
We often find these are also used by Clients as spare devices, to be used in the event of a catastrophic failure… when they can be whipped out, booted up, and have the user back in service within minutes.
Ask us for a quote – ones, twos, tens or more….
Microsoft CoPilot
Microsoft’s everyday AI companion is now starting to be rolled out within some of Microsoft’s more advanced 365 licensing. AI will be a huge area of interest within the business IT environment this year, so we’ll be collating and providing info on how to benefit from this on a regular basis. You can get a flavour of it via your Office portal: https://copilot.microsoft.com/
Watch this space !
Alchemy Is Expanding Again
In order to keep our resources ahead of our Clients’ needs we’re adding another couple of heads to our team:
- Level 2 Technician – one with senior experience in the areas of Azure / M365 / device management, along with all the normal skills we require for providing a top level service desk experience. Someone has been offered and accepted for this role and will be starting next week.
- Junior Office Admin – as Ellie has been promoted to Finance Manager, it makes sense to support her new role with an Assistant to perform more of the daily duties in addition. This role has been offered and accepted – start date to be advised.
So, as you can see, Alchemy is growing !
Don’t forget, follow us on LinkedIn for more news stores and updates during the month:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/alchemy-systems-international-limited
