Entertainment companies are frequent targets for phishing, impersonation, credential theft, fake invoice requests, and brand spoofing. Their public visibility, vendor relationships, production schedules, talent communications, marketing campaigns, and finance workflows create many opportunities for attackers.

An entertainment client engaged our team to strengthen email protection using SPF, DKIM, strict DMARC enforcement, a secure email gateway such as Proofpoint, AI-assisted phishing detection, and continuous monitoring. The program achieved a 99.7% phishing block rate and zero business email compromise incidents in the first year.

The Problem

The client used Microsoft 365, multiple business domains, marketing platforms, ticketing tools, production applications, customer communication systems, and third-party vendors. Over time, different teams authorized different services to send email on behalf of the company.

This created several challenges. SPF records were incomplete, DKIM was not consistently enabled across third-party senders, DMARC was in monitoring mode, and some legitimate senders were not properly aligned. Phishing emails were reaching inboxes, executives were targeted by impersonation, and finance teams were receiving fake invoice and payment-change requests.

The client needed a layered email security program that could block phishing, prevent domain spoofing, protect executives and finance users, and provide measurable reporting.

The Assessment

We began with an email security and domain authentication assessment. Our team reviewed Microsoft 365 mail flow, email gateway settings, SPF records, DKIM status, DMARC policy, third-party senders, marketing platforms, vendor communications, phishing history, executive impersonation attempts, mailbox forwarding rules, and reporting workflows.

The assessment found that many legitimate senders were not fully authenticated. Some platforms were sending on behalf of the company without proper SPF or DKIM alignment. Attackers were also attempting brand spoofing, credential harvesting, fake invoice fraud, and executive impersonation.

The Solution

The solution combined secure email gateway protection with strong domain authentication.

First, we created an authorized sender inventory. This included Microsoft 365, marketing platforms, ticketing systems, customer communication tools, production workflow platforms, finance systems, approved vendors, and security notification platforms.

Next, SPF records were cleaned up. Outdated senders were removed, approved senders were documented, and DNS records were simplified to reduce misconfiguration risk.

DKIM was then enabled and validated for corporate email and approved third-party platforms. DKIM helped verify that legitimate messages were authorized and not altered in transit.

DMARC was deployed in phases. The client started in monitoring mode, reviewed aggregate reports, identified unauthorized senders, fixed SPF and DKIM alignment issues, validated third-party senders, and gradually moved toward enforcement. After legitimate senders were aligned, the organization implemented strict DMARC enforcement for primary business domains.

Secure Email Gateway Protection

A Proofpoint-style secure email gateway was configured as the first line of defense for inbound messages. Protections included phishing detection, malicious URL defense, attachment sandboxing, impersonation protection, malware filtering, business email compromise detection, lookalike domain detection, sender reputation analysis, quarantine workflows, and user-reported phishing integration.

Policies were tuned for the entertainment business model. Because the client regularly exchanged files with agencies, production vendors, and creative partners, attachment inspection had to be strong without disrupting legitimate collaboration.

Executives and finance teams received stricter controls because they were high-value targets for impersonation and payment fraud.

AI-Assisted Phishing and BEC Detection

AI helped detect threats that traditional rules might miss. The system analyzed sender behavior, message context, language patterns, new sender-recipient relationships, domain similarity, payment request language, credential-harvesting links, and attachment behavior.

For example, an email that appeared to come from a vendor but used a new domain, urgent payment language, and a suspicious URL could be flagged or quarantined before reaching the user.

AI also helped group related phishing campaigns, identify targeted users, and recommend gateway tuning actions.

Monitoring and Reporting

Live dashboards were created for security, IT, and leadership. Dashboards showed phishing block rate, quarantined messages, top targeted users, executive impersonation attempts, malicious URLs blocked, attachment threats blocked, DMARC pass/fail trends, unauthorized senders, user-reported phishing volume, BEC attempts, and open remediation actions.

This gave the client continuous visibility into email risk and control effectiveness.

Outcomes

During the first year, the client achieved strong results:

  • 99.7% phishing block rate
  • Zero business email compromise incidents
  • Strict DMARC enforcement implemented for primary domains
  • SPF records cleaned up and aligned with authorized senders
  • DKIM enabled for corporate and third-party platforms
  • Reduced spoofing and brand impersonation
  • Stronger protection for executives and finance users
  • Improved visibility into unauthorized senders
  • Faster response to phishing campaigns
  • Live dashboards for email security performance

How We Help

Our team helps entertainment, media, sports, and creative organizations strengthen email security and brand protection. Services include SPF, DKIM, and DMARC implementation, Proofpoint deployment and optimization, Microsoft 365 email hardening, phishing protection, BEC detection, executive impersonation protection, domain spoofing protection, user-reported phishing workflows, dashboards, and managed email security support.

Contact us today to schedule an Email Security and DMARC Readiness Assessment and learn how we can help protect your people, brand, vendors, and customers.