The email trust index examines four vertical industries threatened by email attack — social media, financial services, internet retail, and online travel — and scores email attack vulnerability and trust by industry.
Using Agari’s big data insights, the index is compiled using a composite score on a scale of 1, lowest level of security, to 1000, the highest level of security and meeting the DMARC industry standards that define a security framework for email senders and receivers.
Online travel scored the lowest on the index with a score of around 350, less than half the score of social media. Agari said that this was alarming given the surge in phishing attacks over the past six months that have included Southwest Airlines, Delta Airlines, American Airlines, and Brazilian airlines TAM. Consumer trust in email messages and willingness to purchase online will be impacted.
Social media scored the highest on the trust index with a score over 700. A secure email channel is critical to achieving and sustaining viral adoption, so it is not surprising that social media companies would be the leaders in taking on cyber criminals and finding new ways to secure their email channel, Agari observed.
As more businesses, including small and medium-sized businesses, use social media to grow their businesses and introduce new marketing approaches, there will be continued focus on maintaining high security levels, the company added.
“With business, consumers and reputation at constant risk, Agari established the TrustIndex as a measurement and profile of trust in the email channel. We believe that by exposing the trust factor and its actual impact on reputation and consumer behavior, Agari creates an awareness that can preserve the integrity of today’s most widely used communications channel, and assure”, commented Patrick Peterson, founder and chief executive officer of Agari.