Belting in my Architectural Firm

The Architect Who Almost Lost It All

Industry: Architecture | Company Size: 3 employees | Time to Secure: 18 minutes

The Situation

Mark runs a three-person architecture firm specializing in custom homes. One morning, his biggest client called furious — they’d received an email “from Mark” requesting a $50,000 project payment be sent to a new account.

The Problem

Mark never sent that email. Someone was spoofing his domain, and without proper email authentication, there was no way for recipients to know the difference.

Our Solution

In under 20 minutes, we:

• Configured SPF to create an approved sender list
• Set up DKIM to digitally sign all legitimate emails
• Implemented DMARC in monitoring mode to track all spoofing attempts

The Result

Within 24 hours, DMARC reports showed 12 attempted spoofs — all now being rejected. Mark’s clients receive a verification badge on his real emails. His reputation (and business) remained intact.

“I had no idea people could just... send emails as me. Seatbelt Security didn’t just fix the problem — they showed me threats I didn’t know existed. Best 20 minutes I’ve ever invested in my business.” — Mark