Email Security & Anti-Phishing —
All OwnMidwest Domains

INS deployed advanced email security with DMARC/DKIM/SPF enforcement, sandboxed attachment scanning, real-time threat intelligence, and quarterly phishing simulations across all OwnMidwest accounts and domains.

The Challenge

OwnMidwest's three business lines handle sensitive financial data daily — wire transfer instructions, tax lien purchase agreements, and property acquisition documents all flow through email. This makes their inboxes a high-value target for Business Email Compromise (BEC), phishing, and domain spoofing attacks.

Before INS, OwnMidwest relied on Microsoft 365's default email filtering — no DMARC enforcement, no sandboxed attachment scanning, no email archiving for compliance, and no phishing simulation program to test employee awareness. A single successful BEC attack targeting a wire transfer could result in catastrophic financial loss.

The INS Solution

INS deployed a layered email security stack across all OwnMidwest Microsoft 365 accounts. DMARC, DKIM, and SPF records were configured and enforced for all OwnMidwest domains — preventing attackers from sending emails that appear to originate from OwnMidwest addresses. DMARC reporting was enabled to give INS visibility into any spoofing attempts.

Advanced Threat Protection was configured with sandboxed attachment scanning — every attachment is detonated in an isolated environment before delivery, catching zero-day malware that signature-based filters miss. Real-time threat intelligence feeds update the filtering rules continuously, ensuring protection against the latest phishing campaigns targeting real estate companies.

Email encryption was enabled for sensitive communications, and archiving was configured across all accounts for compliance and legal hold purposes. INS runs quarterly phishing simulations against all OwnMidwest staff — testing real-world susceptibility and feeding results into the security awareness training program.

Results