Coopercitrus Stops Brand Impersonation and Email Fraud

With Proofpoint Email Fraud Defense, Coopercitrus strengthened domain authentication, advanced to strict DMARC enforcement policies, and reduced the risk of cybercriminals exploiting its digital identity to distribute fraudulent invoices and other malicious communications.

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At A Glance

Coopercitrus Agricultural Cooperative is one of the largest agricultural cooperatives in Brazil. Headquartered in Bebedouro, São Paulo, it serves more than 50,000 cooperative members and provides products, services, financial solutions, and technologies that support agricultural producers. A Proofpoint customer since 2012, Coopercitrus expanded its cybersecurity strategy by implementing Proofpoint Email Fraud Defense (EFD) to protect its digital identity, reduce fraud, and preserve trust in communications sent on behalf of the organization.

Products Used

  • Collaboration Security
  • Email Fraud Defense
  • Enterprise Email Protection
  • Email Protection
  • Threat Protection

"Our priority has always been to ensure that our cooperative members can fully trust every communication sent by Coopercitrus. Implementing Proofpoint Email Fraud Defense strengthened our security strategy by protecting our brand against impersonation attempts and significantly reducing the risk of email fraud."

Valter Bortolin, Cybersecurity Manager, Coopercitrus

Company Size

26,000 employees 

Headquarters

Bebedouro, São Paulo, Brazil;

11K
messages identified from unauthorized or unapproved senders
15K
messages from legitimate senders with DMARC authentication issues identified and remediated
56
unauthorized apps identified and blocked after attempts to send emails via Coopercitrus domains
CHALLENGES
  • Protecting a trusted brand: With more than 50,000 cooperative members relying on email for invoices, financial information, and business communications, Coopercitrus needed to prevent attackers from impersonating its brand and eroding member trust.
  • Stopping email fraud and spoofing: While inbound email was already protected, cybercriminals were sending fraudulent emails with altered invoices, creating financial risk and increasing the burden on the security team.
  • Strengthening domain authentication: The organization needed complete visibility into all email sources and a path to strict DMARC enforcement without disrupting legitimate business communications.
RESULTS
  • Advanced DMARC enforcement: Five of six monitored domains now enforce a DMARC p=reject policy, while only 0.53% of messages on the primary domain fail DMARC authentication.
  • Improved visibility into email activity: Proofpoint identified 11,000 messages from unauthorized senders, 15,000 legitimate messages with authentication issues, and 56 unauthorized applications attempting to send email using Coopercitrus domains.

  • Reduced fraud risk while preserving trust: By strengthening domain authentication and continuously

    monitoring for brand impersonation, Coopercitrus significantly reduced exposure to email spoofing in communications sent to its 50,000+ cooperative members.

The Challenge

Protecting Digital Identity in a Trust - Based Relationship

With more than 50,000 cooperative members, Coopercitrus relies on email as one of its primary channels for delivering invoices, announcements, business communications, and financial information. While the organization already had protection against inbound email threats, it faced a different challenge: cybercriminals were using spoofing techniques and social engineering to impersonate the cooperative. 

In several cases, fraudulent emails contained altered invoices that led cooperative members to believe the communications were legitimate. Beyond the risk of financial losses, these incidents increased the operational burden on the security team and threatened one of Coopercitrus' most valuable assets: the trust of its members.

Protecting our brand is just as important as protecting our people. Proofpoint gave us the visibility and confidence to authenticate our email ecosystem and prevent attackers from abusing Coopercitrus' trusted identity.

Valter Bortolin, Cybersecurity Manager

The Solution

Strengthening Brand Protection Through Email Authentication

Coopercitrus deployed Proofpoint Email Fraud Defense to gain complete visibility into every source sending email on behalf of its domains. The project included identifying legitimate email sources, validating SPF and DKIM configurations, and gradually implementing DMARC, beginning in monitoring mode. 

After authenticating and remediating legitimate email flows, the organization progressed to DMARC p=reject on five of its six monitored domains, dramatically reducing the opportunity for unauthorized use of its digital identity. 

Proofpoint Email Fraud Defense also provides continuous visibility into email senders, authentication failures, and potential brand impersonation attempts, enabling the security team to quickly identify and respond to emerging risks.

The Results

Proofpoint Strengthens Coopercitrus’ Control Over Its Digital Identity

On the organization's primary domain, only 0.53% of analyzed messages failed DMARC authentication, while five of the six monitored domains now enforce a DMARC p=reject policy. 

The solution also identified approximately 11,000 messages from unauthorized senders and 15,000 messages from legitimate senders with authentication issues, enabling the security team to distinguish malicious activity from configuration errors and respond more efficiently. 

As a result, Coopercitrus significantly reduced its exposure to email spoofing attacks, strengthened protection of its brand, and increased confidence in the communications delivered to its cooperative members.