In 2018, an estimated 260 billion emails were sent daily. Email is a simple and effective communication tool used to share everything from business correspondence to family weekend plans. However, it’s no secret that it comes with more than its fair share of risks.
As ubiquitous and mundane as it is, email also happens to be a sinister space, with 91% of targeted threats originating there. It is the main entry point for infiltrating an enterprise network and breaching valuable company data. Ironically, this popular medium helps spread malware, spam, and phishing attacks. Here are some questionable emails to avoid:
- Phishing emails appear to come from trustworthy and legitimate sources but contain suspicious links or attachments that fool recipients into opening them. Once opened, the email will direct you to a malicious phishing page that asks for sensitive information.
- Buffer overflows happen when a large number of data hits an on-premises email server. This means that your hosted email protection service will face high load demand.
- Inbound and outbound email flooding uses large amounts of emails to overload the system, resulting in system failure.
- In DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks, VPN or remote desktop services become unusable if a large amount of email is received by a DSL connection with limited bandwidth. This also degrades external hosted services.
- Business email compromise (BEC) is an email attack where employees receive emails purportedly from C-suite executives, asking the former to wire money to the cybercriminal’s account.
- Ransomware is a type of malware that locks your files and demands a ransom. It is delivered via unsolicited emails with malicious attachments in the form of PDF or Word files. Like phishing, it could contain links to malicious websites.
Related article: Spectrumwise’s Ultimate Guide to Email Security
To secure email and protect messages from unauthorized access, loss, and other threats, organizations and individuals must have solid security measures in place. Here are some reasons why you should take email security seriously:
Email-based attacks affect the entire organization
A harmful email that invades your workplace can wreak havoc throughout your organization. It can be especially harmful if ransomware holds your company information and systems hostage. At times, this critical data will no longer be retrievable even if the ransom was paid. This, in turn, paralyzes vital customer services or operations for long periods, thus affecting your business.
Basic anti-spam email filters are no longer enough
Hackers are developing increasingly sophisticated tools and techniques to bypass email security systems, including redirecting clean URL addresses to phishing URLs. The growing challenge for your business is to ensure that it has the right email defenses to detect and stop these threats. On top of traditional antivirus software, additional protection is essential.
Reactive email security solutions only catch known threats
The most complex cloud email security services today are preventive. They beef up standard signature-based and anti-spam capabilities with contextual investigation, as well as spoof and anomaly detection. With advanced capabilities like AI, heuristics, and machine learning, suspicious emails can be analyzed in real time and, your business can easily evade complex threats.
Spectrumwise is an MSP that provides its partners with state-of-the-art filtering or email protection. This includes a suite of protective measures such as spam protection, firewalls, automated quarantine, email encryption, and sent message testing. Bolster your enterprise’s defenses with our sophisticated communications security solution. We offer cloud-based security, nonstop proactive monitoring, and security awareness training. Talk to us to learn more.
Still unsure about how to secure your business email? Read our comprehensive blog, Spectrumwise’s Ultimate Guide to Email Security and eliminate your fears of costly security breaches.
