Email Protection Solutions for Your Business

Email security solutions work on multiple fronts and provide a centralized protection and management of all email-related activities of a corporation. Therefore, to make these activities safe, there are many vital solutions no business should overlook.

What Is Email Protection?

There is not a single employee in a modern company that doesn’t use email. In fact, many businesses nowadays are expanding geographically and reaching potential clients and employees virtually via electronic communication. Additionally, employees are working from home and international partners and business deals being made globally, all of these activities are virtual and online.

Certainly, email is the fastest and easiest way to transfer information, business communication and timely submission of documents. However, if the company employees have access to the Internet and the ability to exchange electronic messages, then the protection of those emails should be organized in a very serious way. A corporate network could be exposed to numerous threats if this issue is not prioritized.

Attackers spoof domains to make it look like their emails are from trusted sources, they distribute spam and malware via email channels and they apply social engineering tricks to collect payments and make users log into fake accounts.

In between all of the online activities, there are cybercriminals and security threats that take on many different forms and steal your data by working their way around all your vulnerabilities. Certainly, poorly secured email communications give cyber attackers easy access into your business. This often results in compromise of sensitive information, reputation damage and downtime. This is why businesses should not overlook having a strong email security strategy.

Attackers spoof domains to make it look like their emails are from trusted sources, they distribute spam and malware via email channels and they apply social engineering tricks to collect payments and make users log into fake accounts.

Why Is It Important?

There are possibly numerous applications working alongside your company email. These can cause vulnerabilities and compromise your email security. Malware and ransomware attacks are on the rise, affecting thousands of businesses daily. 20,000 to 30,000 attacks leveled out in the US alone between April and May of 2020.

Attackers are investing time and resources into developing foolproof software that can get around strong security technologies. The rise of these types of attacks will increasingly make it harder for businesses to keep ahead. 

With an increasing number of companies shifting their IT infrastructure and business applications to the cloud, a whole new group of security threats and concerns become evident and in need of being addressed. Your business might be using only local hardware, completely cloud based or a mix of both according to your needs. Nevertheless, the importance of email security does not vary.

Certainly, the most serious of the above mentioned threats is the commercial information leak. The value of confidential information in a business environment is beyond question. It is a tasty morsel for competitors and attackers.

It may seem like email encryption and archiving, large file transfer and customer service are outside the scope of email protection but when examined closely, these features are vital for your business and therefore should not be overlooked and remain protected.

What they do is expand the capabilities of your business itself, providing effective and secure Web portals for collaboration, protecting your outgoing messages, preventing you from exposing your business to the dangers of third-party archiving storage, and make troubleshooting in the event of a problem a simpler and less stressful process for your IT department.

Email Protection Solutions

1. Digital Signature

Digital signature (EDS) or message encryption using private and public keys. Above all, a digital signature requires the sender, who will be the signer, to have cryptographic keys (private and public). Consequently, the sender signs his messages locally (on their device with the private key). The receiver can then verify the signature using the sender’s public key.

The specific solution to the problem of protecting messages during transmission depends on the specifics of the transmitted information and a number of other factors.

2. Anti-spam Systems and Special Software

The next threat email protection aims to address is external attacks. The most “harmless” of these is targeted and untargeted spam. According to statistics, spam mailings account for more than 80% of all correspondence transmitted through the World Wide Web. Such messages not only seriously load information systems, but also daily distract employees from performing their official duties. In order to reduce the flow of spam, email protection uses special software filters and anti-spam systems, just like internet filters block harmful content when browsing.

More serious threats are Trojans and malware, as well as phishing links, which are sent in large numbers in emails. Certainly, malicious software can cause irreparable damage to servers, workstations and the information they contain – distort or destroy data, block the operation of applications and the operating system as a whole.

3. Antivirus Software

Clicking on phishing links to hacker sites threatens to unnoticeably install programs on users’ computers that allow attackers to gain access to valuable personal information, logins and passwords from corporate resources. To eliminate such threats, email protection uses reliable antivirus software that can scan email messages and notify you of the presence of phishing links in the received email, if necessary, to help to get rid of the hacker on your computer.

In addition, external attacks can be organized on the corporate mail server, the consequence of which will be the denial of the mail service – DoES (Denial of Email Service). In a situation where corporate email is actively used in the workflow, this can become a serious problem.

4. Email Security Protocols

Email security protocols consist of many different mechanisms. Sender Policy Framework (SPF), DomainKeys Mail Identity (DKIM), Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) and Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI).

Therefore, corporations can and should be on the lookout for these policies and protocols. Additionally, checking SPF records and investigating the issues related to domain configuration to ensure the safe usage of emails and protecting domain reputation.

5. Control on Outgoing Email

Email protection also applies to outgoing information. We are talking about the control of sending files, data on important contracts, automatic and manual verification of messages. Email protection in this part is the prerogative of the company’s security service. It is not for nothing that all major corporations pay great attention to control over outgoing mail. The lack of such control invariably results in either the accidental or deliberate leakage of important business information.

Why Does Your Business Need an Email Solution?

In general, email security requires a systematic approach. Certainly, the use of various solutions for email protection is based on the work of a set of specialized devices and software. Email security is one of the most important components of information security.

About the author:

Lilit Khlghatyan is a content writer at EasyDMARC. She writes content on email protection and cybersecurity.

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