Finding 1: Nothing tells mail servers to refuse email forged in your name
highShown above
Where the change is made: Your DNS settings.
The record we read:
;; status: NXDOMAIN (answered by 1.1.1.1): _dmarc.harbourview-law.example does not exist
Publish this record
_dmarc.harbourview-law.example
v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; rua=mailto:dmarc@getleaktrace.com
Sign in where your domain's DNS is managed.
That is usually where you bought the domain or your website host; it is the company whose name servers your domain uses.
Open the DNS records for harbourview-law.example.
The screen is usually called DNS, DNS records or Zone editor.
Add a new record and choose the type TXT.
Type _dmarc as the name.
If the screen does not add your domain itself, type _dmarc.harbourview-law.example.
Paste the record above as the value, exactly as copied.
Save the record.
Read the reports for about two weeks. When no mail your firm really sends is landing in spam, change p=quarantine to p=reject in the same record (forged mail is refused).
Shown above
Where the change is made: Your DNS settings.
How easily email can be forged in your name: 45 of 100
highThis number sums up how many of the email protections that stop forged mail are missing or weak.
If it is not yours, it can send payment instructions that look like your firm's.
Where the change is made: Your registrar account.
The addresses appear in records published after other sites were breached.
Where the change is made: Each account named.
Please find the invoice attached.
Our banking details have changed. Use the account below for this payment.
This is what one name shows from outside. The assessment also reads names registered under the same owner, every domain your firm owns and the names of your people. It also sets out what to do about each.
1. Nothing tells mail servers to refuse email forged in your name
highdig TXT _dmarc.harbourview-law.example +short @1.1.1.1Run this on any computer; it returns the same answer for anyone.
dig TXT _dmarc.harbourview-law.example +short @1.1.1.1
Run this from any computer. It shows what we saw. If it shows something else, we are wrong about this one.
2. 1 domain made from your firm's name was registered on 20 September 2026, is set up to send and receive email and has no website. We cannot tell from outside who owns it. Is it yours?
high3. 3 addresses on your domain are present in monitored breach databases
highFor a law firm, that is how a forged note asking a client to wire funds can reach a careful reader.
On the public record · dated and sourced
27 May 2025
California Court of Appeal, Fourth District, case D083655 (United States)
A California appeal court decision published in May 2025 covers a $475,000 settlement payment that went to criminals. They wrote to the paying side's lawyer from a domain one letter different from the other law firm's. The court ordered the paying side to pay again.
On your domain: A domain made from your firm's name is registered and set up to send email.
Matched on the way in the source reported. It does not mean your business was affected.
ABA Formal Opinion 477R expects lawyers to make reasonable efforts to prevent unauthorized access to client information sent over the internet. What is reasonable is judged case by case, starting with how sensitive the information is. Source: ABA Formal Opinion 477R.
Your insurance renewal and your clients
Cyber insurance applications commonly ask 4 questions that an outside reading can answer. Today 2 of them would be answered 'no'.
More rules for law firms
Why this matters now
7 Oct 2026
The Record
Arizona court system. Way in, as reported: email made to look like it came from a trusted sender.
On your domain: nothing tells mail servers to refuse email forged in your name (finding 1).
What an attacker would do with this
What firms like yours do first
This is how the pattern works in general. It does not mean anyone has tried it on your firm.
The usual ways payment fraud reaches a firm: someone's mailbox is already being read, public records, someone else in the deal, or mass campaigns.
Each one ends with a message that looks like yours, sent just before a closing, a settlement or a trust-account payment.
A finding is a reason to check, not proof that anyone is inside. We read from outside only and we never go inside your systems or anybody's mailbox.
1. What firms do first: a new password for everyone who handles money. 3 of your addresses are listed in breach data. If a password from that breach is used anywhere else, it can open a mailbox.
2. Then a second sign-in step on every account. If a password is stolen, an account that asks for a second step still stays closed.
The assessment adds the full checklist for your mail system: where each setting is, what you will notice, whether it can stay on and how to undo it. Everything in the assessment
We read the ten things that reach law firms on 30 October: six clear, three open and one to tidy.
Two more parts are read with the assessment.
External Cybersecurity Assessment
Your reading shows 4 findings. The assessment lists every one, with the proof, the exact steps in order and our re-check from outside until it is closed, wherever an outside check can settle it.
What you get
How this differs from what you already have
Prefer email? Reply to the email this reading came with, or write to [email protected].
What was publicly visible from outside on 30 October 2026. It does not cover your internal systems.
Why you are getting this: we read owner-run law firms from the outside. To have this reading and your details deleted, reply to the email it came with or write to [email protected]. Outside Reading Policy
How we prepared this
Public records only. We hold no keys to your firm. We did not log into or touch any of your systems. The first finding above carries its proof; the record for each of the others is in the assessment. Attackers now use AI to find ways in like these. Our outside checks read your firm first. These findings come from automated checks; the paid assessment is human-verified before it is released. If the check comes back different, we are wrong.
Attacks on firms like yours still start with ways in like these. AI makes every step after them faster and cheaper.
The outside watch for Harbourview Law LLP