More than 376.4 billion emails are anticipated to be sent and received daily by 2025 across the globe. Now, you may account for only a small portion of that massive number. But with that said, is your email security keeping your data safe or is downtime inevitable in your future?

It’s not uncommon for countless amounts of those emails to house attachments and sensitive information. Many are vulnerable to security breaches. Indeed, this is highly relevant to you, especially if you share sensitive information.

According to the FBI, “business email compromise (BEC)—also known as email account compromise (EAC)—is one of the most financially damaging online crimes. It exploits the fact that so many of us rely on email to conduct business—both personal and professional.”

Consider:

• Cases of business email compromise and misrepresentation are 15 times higher than they were in 2020.
• A data breach now costs businesses over $4.24 million, which is the highest average total cost in the 17-year history of IBM’s Data Breach Report.
• Email attacks are often the culprit, accounting for roughly half of all cybercrimes according to the FBI.
• The majority of employees have accessed personal email accounts from business computers—an act that is rarely authorized by leadership or cybersecurity specialists.
• Organizations that don’t currently use a secure email service, email archiving, or AI security solutions are most at risk.

Nowadays, when it comes to stopping spam, securing email systems, combating rapidly evolving email threats and keeping computers working at a fast pace, small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) need to devote more resources to email protection.

What’s at risk is data loss and downtime. It creates financial and operational burdens that harm your business. Not to mention the reputational damage that impacts your business for years to come. So, it’s critical to keep up with continually evolving email security technologies and best practices.

It gives you peace of mind.

Email Security Options

There are many email security solutions available. You could:

• Separate email servers from applications and storage servers, safeguarding your business from attacks.
• Maintain security measures primarily via automatic updates. This reduces maintenance costs and makes it simple, cost-effective and efficient to employ a separate security appliance.
• Move to hosted secure email services through a managed security services provider, or MSSP. This lets you focus on running your business with the assurance your email is secure.
• Use email content filtering. This allows you to block discrete attachments based on content, both inbound and outbound. It also keeps you compliant with corporate governance or industry requirements.

Email Security Best Practices

Hands down, the most powerful component of any cybersecurity plan is a community of informed and compliant employees with knowledgeable leadership. Still, training employees to avoid risky behavior is only the first step. Here are other practical steps you can take in tandem to improve overall email security:

• Implement an email archiving solution that recognizes emails consistent with your corporate culture and habits, regulatory requirements and industry.
• Specify policies and controls regarding what’s stored on user desktops and laptops, so you can protect important data. Empower the enforcement of those policies by providing tools to do so. Rules generally include:
  • Opening only specific types of attachments
  • Limiting the size of attachments
  • Placing limits on the type of sites employees visit using company computers
• Be sure key departments understand the policies. Require them to approve of your email filtering, retention, retrieval and analysis policies.
• Encrypt email to prevent unauthorized individuals from intercepting messages. That alone reduces the potential for data loss. However, MSPs work with companies to integrate other steps as needed to meet specific company needs efficiently and effectively.
• Stay attuned to evolving threats and solutions. It better prepares you to identify problem areas and take the necessary steps to guard against them. If you don’t have time to monitor these threats, lean on an MSP.
• Educate your staff. Teach them how to prevent the spread of viruses via email attachments and phishing scams. Make sure all employees are educated against opening spam or emails from unknown senders.

Many companies have determined that MSPs are an affordable preventative security measure in the battle to protect company data. These experts know and understand the threats present, and it is a matter of “when”, not “if” an attack will occur. They work with clients to establish systems to protect email and other data from penetration or loss, and they understand how to mitigate company downtime.

Since instant communication is considered essential in nearly every facet of life, it’s easy to take email for granted. But there’s no excuse for shortcuts when it comes to security and archiving of your most precious asset – your data. Take advantage of available solutions. Enforce security policies. You, your employees and your clients will be thankful you did. Contact Secure Network Services to learn more about email security.