Topic

Supporting Gmail and Yahoo Mail's 2024 Security Enhancements.

Description

Both Gmail and Yahoo Mail have announced that beginning in February 2024 they will begin enforcing stronger email security requirements with the goal of reducing spam to their users:

• New Gmail protections for a safer, less spammy inbox
• More Secure, Less Spam: Enforcing Email Standards for a Better Experience

Who Is Impacted?

The requirements being imposed by Gmail and Yahoo Mail are only applicable to Everbridge clients who send 5K or more emails per day to Gmail or Yahoo Mail email addresses.  

There is no impact if you are sending to your Contacts using their corporate email address or any other email address not associated with Gmail or Yahoo Mail. There is also no impact if you are sending to Gmail or Yahoo Mail subscribers, but at a rate of less than 5K emails per day to these mail providers.

How Is Everbridge Addressing the Requirements?

1. One-Click Unsubscribe - An industry standard mechanism known as One-Click Unsubscribe, which allows email recipients to quickly opt-out of the sender's future mailings, is now being required as part of the Gmail and Yahoo Mail changes.

As of February 2024, this feature will be added to all email notifications sent from the Everbridge platform that have the Email Unsubscribe link/feature enabled. You can learn how to enable this feature by referring to knowledge base article EBS: Email - Allow Contacts to Unsubscribe or Opt Out from Everbridge Email Notifications.

Once enabled, your email recipients should see an "Unsubscribe" link near the From sender field in Gmail and Yahoo Mail. See image for example.

2. DKIM and DMARC - Industry standard authentication mechanism is required.

If you are using the default Everbridge-provided From address (noreply@everbridge.net or noreply@everbridge.eu) for your email notifications, then there is nothing for you to do and your emails will be DKIM and DMARC compliant.

If you are using a customized From address via the Everbridge Custom From Email feature, then you may need to take additional steps for your emails to meet the requirements. For customers using the Custom From Email feature, Everbridge will need to provide a DKIM key which you will then need to setup properly on your DNS server(s). You will need to have a network/security engineer from your organization involved in this process. If you have not been provided a DKIM key for your custom domain or aren’t sure, then please check with your internal network/security team as they should be able to determine this through a DNS server query. Alternatively, you may also reach out to Everbridge Technical Support to inquire.