Best practices for email server trust

🚀 Exploring SMTP Penetration Testing: A Comprehensive Approach 🚀In today's digital-first landscape, securing communication protocols like SMTP is critical to protecting sensitive data. The SMTP Penetration Testing Research Report delves into the vulnerabilities of Simple Mail Transfer Protocol servers and offers actionable strategies to identify and mitigate risks. 🔑 Key Insights: SMTP Vulnerabilities: From open relays to user enumeration and lack of encryption, learn how attackers exploit these weak spots. Techniques Unveiled: Master banner grabbing, advanced user enumeration methods, brute force attacks, and SMTP relay exploitation. Best Practices: Practical guidelines to secure SMTP servers, including disabling unnecessary commands, implementing TLS encryption, and using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC protocols. Real-World Application: Case studies and exercises demonstrate how to test vulnerabilities using tools like Telnet, Netcat, Nmap, and Metasploit. 💡 Why This Matters: SMTP remains a backbone of email communications, yet poorly configured servers are prime targets for cyber threats. This guide is a must-read for penetration testers, system administrators, and cybersecurity professionals committed to building resilient communication systems. 🔗 Dive into the report and fortify your SMTP servers against evolving threats. Let’s make digital communications safer, one protocol at a time! #SMTP #PenetrationTesting #CyberSecurity #InfoSec #NetworkSecurity #EmailSecurity #RedTeam #VulnerabilityManagement #SPF #DKIM #DMARC #TLS #ThreatDetection #BruteForce #Enumeration #Metasploit #TechCommunity #DigitalResilience #ProtocolSecurity #SMTPTesting #SecureServers #SecurityTools

After reviewing data from 1,000s of inboxes at RevGrowth, these 8 practices have made the biggest impact for consistent 99% email deliverability:   Most teams skip at least one of these, then wonder why their cold emails land in spam.   Here's what we do:   1. Use Secondary Domains - Never send from your main domain > We buy secondary domains through Porkbun for cheap, easy management   2. Track Replies Only - Open and click tracking hurt deliverability > I keep reply tracking on and turn everything else off. Clean signal, less risk   3. Send Fewer Emails Per Mailbox - I stick to 30 emails/day per mailbox, max > Spread your volume across several domains. Fewer red flags, more consistency   4. Warm Up Slowly - Ramp up sending volume over time. > Start low, increase gradually. This builds trust with inbox providers.   5. Double-Verify Your Lists - Bad data kills sender reputation > We use LeadMagic, Icypeas, and Prospeo.io for email search, then verify with LeadMagic. Clean lists = low bounce rates   6. Use Modern Sending Platforms - Old-school SEPs drag down deliverability > I recommend EmailBison or Smartlead   7. Automate CRM Syncing - Manual updates cause errors and missed follow-ups. > OutboundSync handles real-time syncing with HubSpot or Salesforce. Less manual work, more accuracy.   8. Stick to Plain Text - Links and images lower inbox rates. > I write text-only emails. They look more human and get better placement.   Our team applies these 8 steps in every workflow ourselves & all client accounts.   What’s been your biggest deliverability challenge lately?

I burned through $15K perfecting cold email copy. Here's what I learned when I focused on deliverability instead. While I was obsessing over subject lines and CTAs, most of my emails were landing in spam folders. I had killer copy that nobody ever saw. But here's what happened when I fixed the infrastructure piece first… I went from ignored emails to 800,000+ monthly sends at ColdIQ. If your cold emails aren't working, deliverability beats copy every single time. WHY DELIVERABILITY IS EVERYTHING: 1. Perfect copy means nothing in spam. You can have killer targeting, perfect messaging, incredible offers... but if your email lands in spam? Game over. 2. It compounds everything else. Once your domain reputation is down, even your transactional emails start getting flagged and won't get delivered anymore. So how do you make your email in the primary? 1. Protect your main domain. Never send cold emails from your primary domain. We use 70+ secondary domains to keep our brand safe and our main inbox clean. 2. Distribute volume across multiple mailboxes. Set up 140+ mailboxes across those domains. Keep it under 50 sends per day per domain. High volume too early = instant red flag. 3. Get your technical foundation bulletproof. Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication. Without proper technical set-up, you're flagged as suspicious by default. 4. Warm up. Send nothing for 2 weeks. Use premium warm-up tools to build trust gradually with ESPs. Ramp slowly to avoid triggering their spam filters. Patience here pays dividends later. 5. Natural variation. Use Spintax or tools like Twain to introduce variations in your messaging. Even small variations help you avoid the repetition triggers that scream "mass email blast" to spam filters. Remember, list quality plus message still matter most. Even with perfect infrastructure, if your list is off and your message is weak, you'll still land in spam. Deliverability gets you to the inbox, but the relevance keeps you there. Monitor everything rigorously. Use tools to track your sender reputation across all ESPs. We check deliverability rates daily (it's that critical). Infrastructure gets you to the inbox, but your targeting plus messaging determines what happens next. I've put together a 7-day GTM crash course that includes our exact setup, authentication templates, and the monitoring systems we use to protect the campaigns of our 70 clients. Reply with "SETUP" if you want access before your next campaign goes live.

If you're seeing a dip in email performance, the culprit might not be your copy—it could be your deliverability. Let's fix that. Sending great emails means nothing if they never reach the recipient’s inbox. You might have an amazing offer combined with killer copywriting, but it won’t make a difference if nobody sees it. Here are the five most important factors for deliverability – and how to get them dialed in... SENDER REPUTATION Your sender reputation is like your credit score. Internet service providers (ISPs) use it to decide whether your email goes to the inbox or the spam folder, just like banks use your credit score to determine whether or not to give you a loan. Maintaining a high sender reputation requires consistent sending practices, avoiding spammy content, and minimizing bounce rates. LIST HYGIENE When it comes to your email list, we’re looking for quantity AND quality. Emailing invalid or inactive addresses will send your bounce rates through the roof, which draws more scrutiny from ISPs. You should continuously (or at least consistently) scrub your list to remove inaccurate or unengaged subscriber profiles. EMAIL AUTHENTICATION Think of email authentication as your driver’s license or passport. It’s a quick, easy way to verify you actually are who you say you are. Authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC help ISPs verify that your emails are coming from a trusted source, not a fly-by-night spammer. I know that’s a lot of alphabet soup, but don’t be intimidated. There are plenty of how-to guides for getting this set up. CONTENT QUALITY The content of your email also plays a huge role in deliverability. A lot of brands are still emailing like it’s 1999. They’re pushing spammy keywords like FREE and BUY NOW and stuffing emails to the brim with product links. Pretend you’re sending an email to your best friend – clean, simple, to-the-point. No games or gimmicks, just the information they need to make a decision. SENDING FREQUENCY When it comes to deliverability, consistency is key. If your publishing cadence suddenly goes from once-a-quarter to daily, you might get dinged. The key is to find a steady cadence that keeps you on your audience’s radar without burning out your readers or your team. Improving your email deliverability rate is crucial if you want to maximize the ROI of your email marketing efforts. It’s not just about getting your message out—it’s about making sure your message lands in the inbox, where it can actually drive results. Got questions? Let me know which item I need to go deeper on.

Important Email Update! New requirements from Gmail and Yahoo Mail effective February 2024. 𝐄𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬: As part of their ongoing commitment to enhance email security and protect user inboxes, Gmail and Yahoo Mail have announced a set of new requirements for email senders, effective February 2024. The new requirements include long-standing best practices that all email senders should follow in order to achieve good deliverability with mailbox providers. What's new is that Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and other mailbox providers will require alignment with these best practices for those who send bulk messages over 5000 per day or if a significant number of recipients indicate the mail as spam. 𝐑𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬: - SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is a domain-based way to determine what IPs are allowed to send email on somebody's behalf. - DKIM (Domain Keys Identified Mail) is a message-based signature that uses asymmetric cryptography to sign email and verify that a message was not altered in transit. - DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) builds on top of SPF and DKIM and instructs receivers to approve, quarantine, or reject email messages. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬: For senders of bulk messages, meeting these requirements is crucial to maintaining good deliverability and ensuring that your emails reach the intended recipients' inboxes. Failure to comply may result in emails being marked as spam or rejected by mailbox providers. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐝𝐨: Review your current email sending practices to ensure alignment with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. If necessary, update your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC configurations to comply with the new requirements. Check the diagram showing how SPF and DKIM work together with your DMARC policy. #EmailSecurity #GmailUpdate #YahooMail #SPF #DKIM #DMARC #Authentication #CyberSecurity #EmailBestPractices

🚀 Mastering SMTP Penetration Testing: Securing Email Communications 🚀In today’s digital world, securing communication protocols like SMTP is essential to safeguarding sensitive data. The SMTP Penetration Testing Research Report explores the vulnerabilities of SMTP servers and offers hands-on techniques to identify and mitigate these risks. 🔑 Key Highlights: SMTP Vulnerabilities: From open relays to user enumeration and lack of encryption, discover how attackers exploit these flaws. Penetration Testing Techniques: Learn banner grabbing, advanced enumeration, brute force attacks, and relay exploitation methods. Security Best Practices: Implement TLS encryption, disable unnecessary SMTP commands, and configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC for email protection. Real-World Case Studies: Practical exercises using tools like Telnet, Netcat, Nmap, and Metasploit to test and secure SMTP servers. 💡 Why This Matters: SMTP is the backbone of email communications, but misconfigured servers are prime targets for attackers. This guide is a must-read for penetration testers, system admins, and cybersecurity professionals dedicated to securing digital communication channels. 🔗 Check out the full report and enhance your SMTP security strategies to defend against evolving threats! 💬 What’s your approach to securing email servers? Let’s discuss! #SMTP #PenetrationTesting #CyberSecurity #EmailSecurity #NetworkSecurity #InfoSec #RedTeam #SPF #DKIM #DMARC #TLS #BruteForce #Enumeration #Metasploit #VulnerabilityManagement #TechCommunity #SecureServers #DigitalResilience #ThreatDetection #SecurityTools #ProtocolSecurity

Emails going to Spam? Here’s how to fix it If your email open rates are below 25%, your emails are consistently getting filtered into spam and email providers don’t trust you. But here’s the good news: you can fix it. *The 4-Step Framework to Diagnose & Fix Email Deliverability Issues* → Step 1: Check your Sender Reputation Your sender reputation is like your credit score. It determines how trustworthy your emails appear to inbox providers like Gmail and Outlook. ▸ Use tools like Google Postmaster Tools or SenderScore to check your email reputation. ▸ If your reputation is low, it’s often due to high bounce rates, low engagement, or spam complaints. How to Fix it: Clean your email list regularly. Remove inactive subscribers who haven’t engaged in 90+ days and AVOID sending to purchased lists. → Step 2: Authenticate Your Emails Email providers block or filter out emails that seem suspicious. Authentication proves your emails are legitimate. ▸ SPF: Confirms your email is coming from an authorized sender (also blocks UV rays). ▸ DKIM: Ensures the email hasn’t been altered after being sent. ▸ DMARC: Prevents phishing attacks using your domain. How to Fix it: Ask your email provider or IT team to set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records. Without them, your emails will always be at risk. → Step 3: Optimize your Email Content to avoid Spam Triggers Spam filters scan for certain words, formats, and practices that make emails look untrustworthy. ▸ Avoid excessive capitalization and punctuation (🔥 LIMITED TIME OFFER!!!). ▸ Use a branded sender name instead of a generic one (“Ryan from [Dispensary Name]” instead of “info@[dispensary].com”). How to Fix it: Keep your emails natural, balanced, and engaging. If an email looks or feels spammy, it probably is. → Step 4: Improve Engagement Metrics Email providers prioritize senders who get high engagement (opens and clicks) and penalize those who get ignored. ▸ Start with engaged customers. Send emails to your most active list segment first before emailing everyone else. ▸ Monitor your open rates. If it’s consistently under 25%, your emails are likely being flagged. How to Fix it: Segment your audience, remove unengaged contacts, and write subject lines that actually make people want to open. → Test It: Want to see if you have a problem? Send a test email to multiple inbox types (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, etc.) and check where it lands. It can take 3-4 weeks to go from a low reputation to medium in Google Postmaster, so be patient. If more people get your emails in their main inbox it will lead to 💵 💵 💵 If you’re seeing issues, or just want to guarantee your emails reach more customers—we can help. Tact Firm specializes in cannabis email marketing that actually gets delivered. Let’s fix this together.

Any proven way to have better email deliverability? And faster? Honestly no. Each scenario is case by case. I'll give you this. Here are the healthiest sending practices from my clients with the best email deliverability. 1. Fully Authenticated with SPF, DKIM & DMARC ↳ Your email foundation and infrastructure are how you get in the inbox and even protect your brand from any spoofing. 2. Makes Unsubscribing Easy ↳ If the process of leaving the email program is difficult, you'll probably get marked as spam and blocked. 3. Practices Double Opt-in ↳ This filters email sign-ups to the next level. Sending a 2nd email to confirm the consent of marketing emails. 4. Monitors Metrics and Domain & IP Reputation ↳ Watching your click rates, purchase rates, Google Postmaster Tools & Microsoft SNDS will guide you through any changes or improvements. 5. Regularly Cleans Email List ↳ This helps to remove any inactive & no longer existing email addresses. Improving the quality of your list. 6. Never Buying or Scraping Email List ↳ Where did those emails come from? You may waste your money by sending to fake addresses and even Pristine spamtraps that major ISPs are watching. 7. Consistent Email Volume Day by Day ↳ Sudden changes in email volume could cause mailbox providers to flag your emails as spam-like behavior. 8. Segments List by Audience's Behavior ↳ Separate and organize your subscribers based on their engagement and the type of customer they are. This makes the kind of content easier and smoother to send. 9. Not Sending To Inactive Subscribers ↳ Why are you sending it to the guy who hasn't clicked or opened your email in over 2 years? ISPs check how the engagement and if they are seeing extremely low metrics — they may filter you into the spam folder. 10. Not using "FWD" or "RE: "in their Subject Lines ↳ Don't trick your subscribers into opening your campaigns. This is manipulative and deceitful. Subscribers won't appreciate this trickery. 11. Easy to View Content in Dark Mode & Mobile ↳ If your campaigns don't render properly to popular and major devices, people will think it's a scam or might lose revenue on the email. Make sure you test your campaigns with full visibility on these devices. TLDR; > Send consistent email marketing to those consented addresses that are active and engage with your content. > Don't try to trick your subscribers into engaging or buying. > Give them a great email experience. Share this with any email marketers you may know! Follow Edward Ma 🐣 for more content on email marketing and deliveryability.

Agencies sending +300k cold emails need to STOP relying on one email provider. Steal the 50-30-20 rule for consistent, and high deliverability 👇🏼 When you’re sending high volume of emails, your deliverability relies on your sender reputation. And your sender reputation? ↳ It’s tied to your IP. ↳ It’s tied to your domain. ↳ It’s tied to your mailbox. Many agencies think they’re okay with one provider. But the reality is far riskier. One wrong move—whether it’s a bounce, a spam complaint, or sending too many emails too fast—can damage your IP’s reputation. And when that happens? Your deliverability drops overnight. Not just for today’s campaigns, but for every single one that relies on that IP or domain. 💡 If 1 mistake means you ruin the cold email campaign of your client, you are thinking wrong. Not only that, when you are using a shared IP provider like gmail or outlook,  you’re essentially sharing your reputation with every other sender on that same IP. Even if you follow best practices, other bad senders can drag your reputation down or limit how high it can go. This is the “poop in the pool” problem 🏊🏼♂️💩 To minimize risk and protect your sender reputation, you need to diversify your email sending across multiple platforms and IPs. The 50-30-20 rule does exactly that ↓ 1️⃣ 50% of your sends should go through your best-performing provider (e.g.:, Gmail or Outlook). ➤ These providers are reliable and won’t die overnight, but you still need to monitor for any platform updates or spam filtering updates, and adapt rapidly when that happens. ➤ Tip: Use MxToolBox to regularly check your domain’s blacklist status and ensure your emails are hitting the inbox. 2️⃣ 30% of your sends should go through SMTP providers with dedicated IPs (e.g.: Mission Inbox - Email Deliverability Management Hub) ➤ Dedicated IPs give you full control over the reputation tied to your sending. You set the limit. But here’s the catch: you must actively manage it. 3️⃣ 20% of your sends should go through experimental providers (e.g.: Mailreef) ➤ This is where you stay agile. By testing new providers with smaller volumes, you can adapt to new technologies and strategies while keeping your core campaigns safe. ➤ Tip: Use this portion of your sending to test new subject lines, copy variations, or even entirely new tools without risking your main campaigns. Why is this strategy so critical? By diversifying your sending strategy with the 50-30-20 rule, you protect your business and your clients from the cascade effect that happens when your IP, domain, or mailbox reputation takes a hit. One bad move doesn’t need to ruin your entire operation. If you are serious about cold email, and you care about your business reputation. Take these preventive steps before the worst can happen. ♻️ Repost this if you find this useful; maybe someone in your network needs it!

Was awesome to unplug over the thanksgiving break and recharge! Back in the saddle this morning with a focus on the importance of email authentication. Comprehensive Email Authentication Understanding SPF, DKIM, and DMARC: SPF (Sender Policy Framework) helps validate the sender, DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) ensures message integrity, and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) aligns SPF and DKIM for a robust defense. Without these, emails are easy targets for cybercriminals, leading to compromised data and lost credibility. Real-World Impact: Consider a scenario where a phishing email, undetected due to poor authentication, leads to a significant data breach. This could result in not only financial loss but also irreversible damage to the organization's reputation. Evolving Security Protocols: Microsoft 365 updates its security protocols regularly to combat emerging threats. Organizations failing to adapt can find their emails misclassified, blocked, or worse, hacked. Best Practices for Compliance: Regularly review and update your email security policies. Engage in continuous learning and training programs to keep your IT team informed about the latest Microsoft 365 updates. Handling Email Fraud: DMARC's role in Microsoft 365 is crucial in preventing email fraud. Ignoring these policies can lead to an increase in phishing attacks and loss of sensitive information. Actionable Steps: Implement and regularly review your DMARC policies. Monitor DMARC reports to understand how your emails are being handled and adjust your strategies accordingly. Beyond Email Security: The implications of email security extend beyond preventing cyber-attacks. It's about building and maintaining trust with clients, partners, and employees. A secure email environment is a foundation for reliable digital communication. Holistic Approach: Combine technical solutions with employee education. Regularly conduct phishing simulations and security awareness training. Foster a culture where email security is everyone's responsibility. For anyone needing specialized assistance with Defender for Office 365, there's a helpful link in the comments that offers expert support. This resource is ideal for those who may be new to Defender or seeking advanced help! #healthcareit #healthcarecybersecurity #fintech #bankingtech #higheredtech #higheredcybersecurity #k12it #k12cybersecurity #cybersecurity #infosec #technology #microsoft #datasecurity #itsecurity #cloudsecurity #networking #emailsecurity #dataprotection