And so it Begins: Gmail Authentication Errors are Here

February 4, 2024 by admin

Gmail has officially started to temporarily reject messages that fail their new authentication requirements.

The long-awaited day is upon us. Gmail has officially started to temporarily reject messages that fail their new authentication requirements. Gmail and Yahoo Mail have been preparing the email world for this day, and right on cue, it’s begun:

It has never been a more important time to authenticate your email. According to the new rules, today you will start to see temporary errors for unauthenticated mail. And starting in April, unauthenticated mail that does not pass DMARC will start to be rejected.

There is no need to get caught off guard by these rejections!

Our CTO, Seth Blank, has a long history of playing a critical and active role across the email ecosystem to drive new technology and change that raises the bar for everyone. He is Co-Chair of the IETF DMARC Working Group, Chair of the AuthIndicators (BIMI) Working Group, and has developed ARC, BIMI, DMARC 2.0, amongst others. With these new requirements, he has already been providing ecosystem and customer feedback directly to Google and Yahoo, helping to clarify guidance and ensure all senders are set up for success with the new rules.

Authentication matters, now more than ever, or the errors will flow. There are still many questions to be answered as these new requirements continue to roll out, but Valimail is committed to providing timely, accurate clarification to senders of all types.

In the meantime, if you want to protect your domain, sign up for our brand new product, Align, specifically created to help you meet the new email authentication requirements. It’s automated, simple, built for marketers, and priced to make it easy for companies of all sizes to meet the requirements.

Since its founding in 2015, Valimail has worked hard to provide automated email authentication solutions ranging from free to enterprise and FedRAMP, and we now have more than 38,000 customers protecting themselves with our industry-leading DMARC software. We’ve always believed that it’s in everyone’s interest to make sure your email domain isn’t spoofed and to thereby help to stamp out criminal abuse of your email and brand.

This isn’t just about protecting yourself – done right, email authentication protects partners, consumers, and anyone receiving email. If we can get to herd immunity (approximately 70% adoption of the largest senders), exact domain spoofing (the most pernicious) becomes economically uninteresting and criminals move on to other forms of phishing, spoofing, etc.

Valimail is here to help you. Ultimately, all mail sent to Gmail and Yahoo Mail must pass DMARC to be delivered. As the world’s leader in DMARC, we’ve got you covered.

by Valimail

New Email Sender Requirements for DMARC, SPF, AND DKIM at Google and Yahoo

February 4, 2024 by admin

Google and Yahoo announced in October 2023 that starting early in 2024, bulk senders will be subject to more stringent requirements for authentication of the mail sent to these two mailbox providers.

Specifically, they’re requiring that bulk senders use domains that have DMARC policies in place, and while that requirement is straightforward, some other requirements around this are causing quite a bit of confusion, so we thought we’d clear them up here.

Google’s requirements for bulk senders include these bullet points:

Set up DMARC email authentication for your sending domain. Your DMARC enforcement policy can be set to none. Learn more
Set up SPF and DKIM email authentication for your domain.
For direct mail, the domain in the sender’s From: header must be aligned with either the SPF domain or the DKIM domain. This is required to pass DMARC alignment.

Google Requirements

So, which is it? Do you need SPF and DKIM or just SPF or DKIM?

The answer, believe it or not, is both.

Set Up SPF and DKIM Email Authentication For Your Domain

For the purposes of our discussion (and for the purposes of the new Google and Yahoo requirements), “your domain” is the domain you’ll be using in the visible From: header of your emails. The directive is to set up SPF and DKIM email authentication for your domain, which means that:

Your mail must be sent with a Return-Path (or bounce) domain for which an SPF record exists
Your mail must be DKIM signed

So that covers SPF and DKIM, but what about SPF or DKIM?

From: Header Must Be Aligned With Either the SPF Domain or the DKIM Domain

DMARC is built on the two email authentication protocols, SPF and DKIM, and DMARC is designed to authenticate the use of the domain in the visible From: header of an email message. Since its release in 2014, DMARC has always required that either SPF pass and the SPF domain align with the From domain or that DKIM pass and the DKIM signing domain align with the From domain.

With these new policies, Google and Yahoo aren’t changing DMARC’s requirement for a pass verdict; either the SPF domain or the DKIM domain must align, just as it’s always been for DMARC.

LEARN MORE ABOUT DMARC

DMARC Best Practices

Even though DMARC only requires an aligned pass for SPF or DKIM, it’s long been a best practice that messages sent with From domains with published DMARC policy to do so with both SPF and DKIM aligned if possible.

This “belt and suspenders” approach is meant to mitigate the risk of failures due to DNS hiccups, breakage due to forwarding, and other blips that might cause one authentication method to fail, but not the other. Implementing the best practice here and having both align is a way, and arguably the best way, to meet the Google requirements discussed above.

Unsure of whether or not your SPF and/or DKIM are aligned? Use Valimail Align to view and update your sending domain.

CHECK YOUR COMPLIANCE

By Valimail

Solve Support Challenges With Lenovo Premier Support

August 2, 2022August 2, 2022 by admin

LP_202208_ThinkPad_X13_Premier_Support___Lenovo_ANZ

Companies are constantly looking out for ways to reduce costs and increase efficiency of their in-house IT support teams. Lenovo™ Premier Support helps by effectively managing the routine support tasks, thus freeing up the valuable time of IT support teams to focus on more high-value tasks that deliver true competitive advantage.

Freeing IT Teams to Focus on What Counts

Lenovo™ Premier Support connects the customers directly with skilled technicians who provide hardware and software support with ‘ease’ of troubleshooting communication and expediting Next-Business-Day On-site support when required. The Premier Support service is delivered directly by Lenovo or Lenovo authorised partners.

Lenovo Premier Support is available with the ThinkPad X13 Gen 3 Laptop

Lenovo offers a comprehensive portfolio of services like the Lenovo Premier Support to protect your ThinkPad X13 Gen 3 laptop —so you can focus on your work, not your IT.

Tech Support With the Premier Difference

Premier Support gives you the consistency, accountability, and visibility you deserve. And thanks to Lenovo’s fast repair service and prioritised parts access, you’ll keep system downtime and productivity interruptions to an absolute minimum.Contact us for More Information

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Webroot Endpoint Protection

November 11, 2021 by admin

What is endpoint protection?

Endpoint protection, or endpoint security, is a general term that describes cybersecurity services for network endpoints, like laptops, desktops, smartphones, tablets, servers, and virtual environments. These services may include antivirus and antimalware, web filtering, and more.

Endpoint protection helps businesses keep critical systems, intellectual property, customer data, employees, and guests safe from ransomware, phishing, malware, and other cyberattacks.

Why businesses need endpoint protection

Criminals are constantly developing new ways to attack networks, take advantage of employee trust, and steal data. Smaller businesses may think they’re not a target, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, small businesses with 100 employees or fewer now face the same risk of attack as a 20,000-employee enterprise.*

No matter their size, businesses need reliable endpoint security that can stop modern attacks. And since most companies are subject to some form of compliance and privacy regulations, protection for endpoints is 100% necessary to help businesses avoid hefty fines and damage to their reputation due to a security breach.

Why Our Endpoint Protection is Different

We designed our solutions to put time back in your day, so you can maximize profitability.

Stop sophisticated cyberattacks

Next-generation protection
Contextual threat intelligence
Industry-leading efficacy

Streamline management

Cloud-based console
Fast deployment & scans
RMM, PSA & BI integrations

Save time and money

Lower TCO & flexible billing
No software conflicts
No reimaging

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Contact PC Madness Today

PC Madness can help and setup onsite or remotely your Security application to better protect you from today’s threats. Contact our office today to enquire and get more information how this product can help you secure your pc and network needs.

Call today PC Madness – 9250 4554

How to Create a Teams Meeting in Outlook

April 8, 2020 by admin

Now that working from home is the norm, video conferences are becoming the de facto way to meet. Here’s how to create Microsoft Teams meetings directly from within Outlook, without having to book them through the Teams app.

To create Teams meetings from within Outlook—either Outlook Online and the Outlook client—you need to install the Teams client on your computer. This will install an add-in to Outlook that provides a new option when you’re creating a meeting. Add-ins that you install in the Outlook client are automatically added to Outlook Online and vice versa. Once you’ve installed the Teams app, the add-in should be available in both clients.

These options should be available for all users of Outlook and Teams, regardless of whether you have a paid Office 365 (O365)/Microsoft 365 (M365) subscriptions. However, they’re only available for email accounts that use Exchange, whether that’s a free Outlook.com/live.com/hotmail account, or a paid Microsoft account for your own domain. If you’re using a non-Exchange account, such as a Gmail or Yahoo account, the Teams add-in won’t work for you.

We’ll take you through installing the Teams client first. If you have installed the client and you still can’t see these options, we’ve got some troubleshooting suggestions as well.

Install the Teams Client

The quickest way to get the Teams client is to open Teams online. On the first page, you’ll be offered the chance to download the Teams client.

The "Get the Windows app" button in Teams online.

If you already have Teams online open, click on the app download option at the bottom of the left sidebar.

The "App download" button in Teams online.

Install the .exe file, and log in with your O365/M365 account details when requested. To make sure the add-in is installed in Outlook, restart Teams, then restart Outlook.

Follow the instructions below to use the add-in in the Outlook client and in Outlook Online. If it’s not available, follow these troubleshooting tips from Microsoft.

Create a Teams Meeting in the Outlook Client

When you install the Teams client on your computer, it will install an add-in to Outlook that provides a new option when you’re creating a meeting. The option is available in the Home > New Items menu.

The "Teams Meeting" option in Outlook's "New Items" menu.

It’s also available in the ribbon of a new Meeting request.

The "Teams Meeting" option in a new meeting request.

When you click one of these options, the meeting request will change to include a location of “Microsoft Teams Meeting” and a link in the body of the request that attendees can click on to join the meeting.

Create a Teams Meeting in Outlook Online

When you install the Teams client on your computer, it will install an add-in to Outlook that provides a new option when you’re creating a meeting. In Outlook Online, the option is available in the meeting request.

The "Teams meeting" toggle switch in an Outlook Online meeting request.

Toggle the setting on to make it a Teams meeting. Unlike Teams meetings you create in the Outlook client, nothing changes in the Outlook Online meeting request, but once you’ve sent the meeting request, the Teams link will appear in the event in your calendar.

An event in the Outlook Online calendar showing the Teams meeting link.

For both Outlook Online and the Outlook client, fill in the attendees and the date and time of the meeting as usual. Send the meeting request the same way that you would with a normal meeting. The only difference is that you and your attendees will join the meeting in Teams, rather than a meeting room in an office.

Article by Rob Woodgate from How-to-geek.

Small business introduction to instant asset write-off changes

April 6, 2020 by admin

Small business introduction to instant asset write-off changes

As the world struggles to come to terms with the ongoing reality of the coronavirus disease, there’s going to be an inevitable impact on small business in Australia. But the Federal Government recognises that businesses – and small to medium businesses in particular – are the lifeblood of the Australian economy. The government’s March 2020 Economic Stimulus Package, in response to challenges created by the spread of coronavirus, further extends the already very useful instant asset write-off taxation provisions for business.

The aim of this article is to give you an overview of the new instant asset write-off provisions. In the coming months, and before the end of the financial year, we’ll be providing further information about how to claim and what you can claim for, with explanatory case studies.

What exactly is an instant asset write-off?

Although instant asset write-off provisions have now existed for a number of years, the March 2020 amendments allow businesses with an annual turnover of less than $500 million to immediately write off, as an expense for tax purposes, individual new or second-hand asset purchases costing up to $150,000 each.

This means that instead of depreciating an asset over a number of years, you can effectively count the asset purchase as an expense in the current financial year, thus reducing your tax bill, provided you purchase the asset and have it installed and ready for use by 30th June 2020.

Extended provisions are only temporary

Businesses with a turnover of $500 million are clearly not small businesses, but small and medium businesses, however low their revenue, can benefit from the increase of the asset value threshold to $150,000, up from the previous $30,000.

The government’s media release makes it clear that these investment-boosting measures are only temporary. Unless either the new $150,000 threshold, or the previous $30,000 threshold, is later extended to continue beyond 30th June, the instant asset write-off threshold will revert to the long-term standard of $1,000 from 1st July 2020, along with a business turnover limit of $50 million. So now is the time to act, particularly if you have plans to purchase assets costing more than $30,000 each.

Boost your business activity and improve cash flow

There are many ways to take advantage of this concession, and you can even use it to purchase new assets your business might need. Now might be the time to consider your IT infrastructure: Is it geared up to allow your staff to work remotely in these uncertain times? Do you have the network bandwidth to support your business? Do you have the security software needed to combat ever-increasing cyber attacks? Consider any and all areas where you might be able to invest this extra funding in order to strengthen your IT ecosystem.

Having robust security is especially important during these times. Remote work can expose networks to breaches in a variety of ways, including unsecured wifi networks, vulnerable personal devices and scams that target remote workers. It might be prudent to invest in VPNs, security software upgrades and other safety features, in order to keep your remote workers – and your business – safe.

You can purchase and write off multiple assets under this program, not just one. So if you are considering business asset purchases which have an individual cost of between $1,000 and $150,000, you could save a lot of tax by bringing forward the date of your investment program to meet the 30th June 2020 deadline. At the same time you’ll be doing your bit to boost the economy and protect Australian jobs.

We Open over Xmas and New Year Break

And so it Begins: Gmail Authentication Errors are Here

There is no need to get caught off guard by these rejections!

New Email Sender Requirements for DMARC, SPF, AND DKIM at Google and Yahoo

Set Up SPF and DKIM Email Authentication For Your Domain

From: Header Must Be Aligned With Either the SPF Domain or the DKIM Domain

DMARC Best Practices

Solve Support Challenges With Lenovo Premier Support

Freeing IT Teams to Focus on What Counts

Lenovo Premier Support is available with the ThinkPad X13 Gen 3 Laptop

Tech Support With the Premier Difference

How to Create a Teams Meeting in Outlook

Install the Teams Client

Create a Teams Meeting in the Outlook Client

Create a Teams Meeting in Outlook Online

Small business introduction to instant asset write-off changes

Small business introduction to instant asset write-off changes

What exactly is an instant asset write-off?

Extended provisions are only temporary

Boost your business activity and improve cash flow

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