EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Corporate email security deserves more of your attention. Email security threats and email security risks are constant. In this article, get email security tips and best practices that can help safeguard your email client.

The latest phishing message that we, at Cyber Talk, have received says “Your October [phone] bill is paid. Thank you. Here’s a little gift for you [malicious link]. We appreciate your loyalty.” Any of your employees could receive a similar message and an unsuspecting person might naively and enthusiastically click on the corresponding link.

It’s a new era in email threats. See the these helpful corporate email security insights to prevent business compromise.

Awareness training

The value of cyber security awareness training cannot be overstated. Cyber attackers do not discriminate; everyone who uses email services is a potential phishing and malware attack target. Every employee, regardless of position within the company, should receive comprehensive cyber security awareness training.

Your business is not too small to experience an attack. Over 60% of small-to-medium sized enterprises have reported a cyber attack within the past year. In fact, small-to-medium sized enterprises are often seen as prime attack targets due to the fact that they often retain weaker security configurations than larger firms.

Email security policies should be communicated to all employees. What’s the policy for reporting email security threats? Who should employees contact if they’re aware that a malicious link or attachment may have been clicked on?

Email threat communication

Threat actors often send the same threat to dozens, hundreds or thousands of employees. Consider whether or not your IT department or cyber security team should retain the capacity to send “warning” emails, telling employees not to open specific types of recently seen phishing threats. If executed correctly, this email security measure can minimize potential risk.

Password security

A password policy represents an integral component of a strategic cyber security plan and can help with corporate email security. Ensure that employees know how to create strong passwords, understand the importance of avoiding password reuse, and recognize the importance of safeguarding credentials. To keep security tight, employees should reset passwords on a regular basis, ensure that passwords are unique, avoid use of home addresses and other personal information within passwords, and store passwords safely.

Email server protection

Implementing strong corporate email security also means attending to the servers that support your systems. Email transfer and processing interruptions can occur via DDoS attack or other spam threats. Among the most disruptive of these server snares involves spam that gets your company blacklisted.

Email server protection strategies can help. For example, consider limiting the number of connections to reduce the potential for spam or DDoS attacks. You can also restrict mail relay parameters. Verifying senders via reverse DNS lookup ahead of accepting inbound messages represents another option. Email server protection protocols can help curb corporate emails security threats.

Security monitoring

New email attack methodologies emerge on a continuous basis. Cyber security professionals should monitor email traffic for any anomalies that might indicate a new, never-before-seen attack type. Detection of new threats at a rapid pace helps to keep organizations safe and productive.

What to do when email security cannot detect all threats

A large number of organizations rely on automated security settings built into email security solutions. However, such settings aren’t always good enough for a variety of reasons. Traditional email security solutions often remain unable to provide adequate zero-day threat detection, some fail to identify BEC attacks, and others cannot detect accidental data leaks. Corporations need email protections that can block and report these types of threats.

Asking the right questions

Is your organization asking the right questions of your vendor when it comes to email security? Key questions to ask include:

  • Can your email security inspect every aspect of communications, including the language used in the body of the email?
  • Does the solution impact productivity [introduces latency]?
  • Does it work in a layered approach to augment the existing authentication process?
  • Can it enable both agent and agentless protection?
  • Does it enable customizable anomaly detection?
  • Can you set custom policies to meet your company’s needs?

Closing the gaps

As 2020 unfolded, many organizations migrated to new computing infrastructures. Although these migrations took a variety of different shapes and forms, a commonality across a large number of organizations included shifting systems quickly and deprioritizing security. Now that the trial-by-fire is over, organizations need to be sure to resolve any lingering security gaps, including those associated with email security.

Implementing stronger solutions

Next-generation business-grade email protection tools can provide granular insights into attack data and critical reporting metrics. Advanced corporate email security tools can also offer “early warnings” about imminent threats, provide notifications concerning exposed credentials, and more. Modernize your legacy solutions with email security as-a-service and protect your email services from the most sophisticated of attacks.

Your email security solution should have the following capabilities: Phishing prevention, malware prevention, account takeover prevention, data leak prevention, internal threats prevention and real-time protection against all threat vectors.

Continue your own email security education

Keeping up with the latest corporate email security threats is imperative. However, it’s time consuming to scan through pages of trade magazine news everyday. Consider selectively subscribing to a handful of reputable security sites that provide daily push notifications pertaining to the latest email security threats.

Don’t have time for daily alerts? Try subscribing to weekly security digests. These publications offer email security tips in bite-sized morsels and are designed for high-powered, fast-moving security leaders.

Ask your vendor. Cyber security vendors can be security partners. Get the latest technical information by reaching out to your vendor’s representatives. These individuals are often extremely knowledgeable and eager to provide resources that can answer your questions.

In conclusion

Email represents the No.1 threat vector. Improved corporate email security can keep your organization productive, protected, and competitive. Furthermore, implementing email security best practices reflects strong organizational leadership, and foretells of continued business expansion.

Get more insights into the latest email security threats, click here. In addition, for more information about corporate email security options, click here. Lastly, to receive cyber security insights, analysis and resources in your inbox each week, sign up for our newsletter.