Email Security for Professional Services: Stopping BEC, Phishing, and Impersonation Attacks
Email is how professional services firms communicate with clients, counterparties, and regulators — and it is the primary attack vector used against them. Phishing, BEC, and domain impersonation attacks all begin with email. The NCSC's Active Cyber Defence programme found that only 22% of UK domains have DMARC properly configured — leaving the overwhelming majority vulnerable to having their domain spoofed in attacks against their own clients. For professional services firms, email security is not a nice-to-have: it is foundational.
Only 22% of UK domains have DMARC correctly configured — leaving most open to email spoofing.
The Email Security Stack for Professional Services
A complete email security programme for a professional services firm requires controls at four layers:
- Authentication — DMARC (set to p=reject), DKIM, and SPF configured correctly on all sending domains including sub-domains
- Gateway — a secure email gateway or advanced threat protection (M365 Defender, Proofpoint, Mimecast) with anti-phishing, link rewriting, and sandbox detonation
- Account security — MFA on all email accounts, conditional access policies, and legacy authentication protocols disabled
- Process controls — a documented bank-detail-change verification procedure and a reporting mechanism for suspicious emails
DMARC for Professional Services: Getting It Right
DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance) prevents attackers from sending emails that appear to come from your domain. Many firms have DMARC configured but set to p=none — which means it monitors but does not block spoofed emails. The target configuration is p=reject, which instructs receiving mail servers to reject emails that fail authentication. Moving from p=none to p=reject requires understanding all legitimate email sending sources (CRM systems, marketing platforms, automated notifications) and ensuring they are correctly authenticated.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does M365 include sufficient email security for a professional services firm?
M365 Business Premium includes Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Plan 1, which provides anti-phishing, safe links, and safe attachments. For most professional services firms, this is a reasonable baseline — but it requires correct configuration. Default M365 settings are not optimal for security. Anti-spoofing policies, DMARC alignment, impersonation protection for key executives, and legacy authentication blocking all require deliberate configuration. A configured M365 environment provides strong email security; an out-of-the-box deployment does not.
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