New rules for sending email to Gmail addresses are set to take effect on April 1. Google has announced that bulk senders will be required to authenticate their emails, allow for easy unsubscription, and stay under a reported spam threshold. These new rules aim to enhance security and control over incoming emails for Gmail users.
Google's statistics show that Gmail's AI protections currently block over 99.9% of spam, phishing, and malware emails daily. Despite this, the new rules are being implemented to further reduce the risk of unwanted and potentially harmful emails slipping through.
The rules specifically target bulk senders, defined as those sending at least 5,000 messages daily to Gmail addresses from the same primary domain. These senders will need to comply with the new authentication requirements starting April 1, with Google planning to reject non-compliant traffic from that date.
In addition to Gmail, Yahoo Mail is also introducing new rules for bulk senders to enhance email security. Bulk senders will be required to authenticate their emails using industry standards like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, and provide an easy unsubscribe option to users.
Security researchers have uncovered a campaign of subdomain hijacking that could undermine email authentication policies. Malicious actors are exploiting compromised subdomains to send millions of malicious emails daily, posing a significant threat to email security.
Organizations are advised to familiarize themselves with the new email sender requirements to avoid falling foul of the regulations. Red Sift has published a guide to help email marketers comply with the new rules set by Google and Yahoo, emphasizing the importance of email authentication standards to protect users from spam and phishing attacks.
