What is Email Security?

Email security refers to the methods employed to protect email accounts and the content from unwanted and illegal access.

Ensuring you have the best secure email gateway is important for any UK business and public sector organization

The purpose of email security is to prevent unauthorized access as well as data getting lost, stolen or compromised.

As we know and have seen in many articles and on the news, emails can be used maliciously for inbound and outbound virus attacks, or simply enticing people and businesses to part with hard-earned cash. Email access points MUST be 100% secure.

Businesses can be a prime target due to high levels of liquid cash being available. To avoid costly data loss or harmful malware then a higher level of email security is required.

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What Kinds of Threats do Email Security Policies Protect Against?

There are many different types of threats and dangers associated with email. Let’s look at some of the major ones.

Phishing is where an email user is scammed into revealing sensitive data such as financial details.

The problem with phishing is that it is extremely common as it is relatively straightforward for hackers to engage in.

Phishing can result in costly data loss, viruses, or even identity theft.

Malware is a common way of causing digital disruption

Malware is a portmanteau of the words malicious and software and refers to software which is intended to gain unauthorised access to a system with the intention of causing harm.

The risks of succumbing to a malware attack include the loss of sensitive data, and the hijacking and monitoring programs and users on the system.

Spear phishing is a more sophisticated and evolved variation on regular phishing.

Whilst the average phishing campaign might involve deploying several thousand emails in the hope that a few will work, spear phishing is much more targeted and involves sneaky social engineering tricks to deceive email users.

Ransomware is a particular form of malware which blocks access to a system until a fee is paid to a hacker.

This involves the encryption of data followed by the request for a payment to decrypt the data and allow access again.

How does Email Security work?

Over time, email security protocols have been steadily increasing to thwart hackers.

The main procedures to ensure business email accounts are secure consist of data encryption and user authentication.

Having these in place will help to safeguard against data theft and sensitive information being leaked such as private financial details, both for the business and in some cases their clients as well.

Encrypting emails involves disguising information within the email so that it cannot be read by unauthorized persons

The level of technical scope for an email security policy will vary depending on the size of the business and the type and volume of data being processed through the email platform.

An example of a relatively straightforward method might be to prevent executable content in emails, or forwarding suspect emails to a sandboxing tool, in order that they can be analysed in more detail.

Another method of enhancing email security is using a secure email gateway. CloudCoCo are experts in email security and will help set these parameters up for you.

Secure email gateways are used to scan incoming and outgoing emails in order to detect threats and prevent malicious, or harmful emails from infiltrating the system.

The automation of email encryption involves the analysis of outgoing emails in order to flag up sensitive material which will need to be subject to further encryption.

This means that even if a hacker intercepts an email, they will not be able to view the contents. An un-authorized attacker will simply see a blank email.

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Who Needs Email Security?

If your staff are working remotely and using work PC’s or phones at home, they may well be accessing online banking, shopping, social media, and other activities that will involve sensitive information. This is why email security should never be taken lightly

If hackers are able to get access to emails with personal data and subsequently business data, it can result in costly security breaches for everyone involved.

This applies to business email users, whether you are a small start-up company, a large corporation or operating in the public sector.

Why choose CloudCoCo PLC?

CloudCoCo are leading the future in Email Security across the UK. Our team live and breathe Cyber Security and you can find a full list of our services below:

Security Assessments

Network Security

End Point Protection

Penetration Testing

Cloud and Application Security Testing

Identify and Access Management

Cyber Essentials Accreditation

Security Operations

Why is Email Security Important?

Aside from data loss and the potential for sensitive information falling into the wrong hands, another reason that email security is so important, is that there is also the risk of regulatory violations if data is intercepted by hackers.

Compliance regulations for the likes of GDPR mean that, for business email users, security is an incredibly important concern.

What Can You do to Increase Email Security?

If you are a business using email, there are a number of procedures you will need to adhere to.

CloudCoCo security team will help you with this and ensure you keep all processes safe and secure.

Let’s briefly examine some of the main policies you can put into place.

Ensuring that users have strong passwords that are changed often will help safeguard against unauthorized access.
It’s recommended that an email password contain a mix of characters, numbers and special characters.
If your business is using webmail, it’s critical that encrypting is set up to help stop the interception of emails by hackers.
Your business email should have a secure login to prevent sensitive data from getting into the wrong hands.
Filtering out spam emails and blocking them before they even reach users can help prevent against attacks such as malware getting through. Aside from this, spam filtering can also boost productivity as users don’t have to waste time weeding out spam emails.
Getting rid of harmful email attachments with a spyware removal service or similar cybersecurity program can help stop the spread of malware.
As a business it’s important to ensure employees are well informed of the dangers of phishing emails, which are designed to trick users into parting with sensitive information.
Train your employees avoiding opening attachments from a source they don’t recognise or clicking links without thoroughly checking them out first.
Avoid revealing passwords to any including colleagues and family, avoiding sending sensitive information via email, and using a virtual private network to access emails when outside the office.

When Should You Consider Enhancing Email Security?

As you can see, there are many cyber threats which can reach users and systems via email. These threats can be incredibly damaging in terms of both time and money.

Small businesses in particular can find it incredibly difficult to recover from a data breach or other malicious cyber-attack.

Call our email security experts today on 0333 455 9885 and our expert team at CloudCoCo will help secure your business.

As such, the best time to improve email security is now. If you have any concerns over the robustness of your email network, it’s best to seek professional advice sooner rather than later to pre-empt any possible attacks before they occur.