Email security solutions help protect organizations from email-borne threats, such as malware, phishing, spam, and business email compromise (BEC). These tools typically use various techniques to scan emails for malicious content, block unwanted messages, and educate users about email security best practices.
Securing email systems is essential for safeguarding sensitive information and maintaining business continuity. Email Security solutions are designed to detect, prevent, and mitigate threats that traverse an organization's email communications. By deploying an email security solution with proper end-user training, these solutions offer a robust defense mechanism against the ever-evolving landscape of email-based threats.
Email Security features and benefits
Email Malware
Email is the most common way that malware is delivered to organizations, and it can be used for various nefarious purposes, such as data theft, system hijacking, establishing botnets, or extorting money through ransomware. Email security tools can help to identify and block malicious attachments and links, preventing malware from entering the organization's network.
Email malware often uses social engineering tactics to trick users into opening malicious attachments or links. Proper email security measures, user awareness, and email security solutions are crucial to protect against these threats.
Users shared with our team that email security solutions helped to block over 99% of malicious emails and reduced spam by over 90%.
Finally, email security tools can also provide users with information about email security best practices, such as how to identify and avoid phishing emails. This can help to raise awareness of email security risks and reduce the likelihood of users being tricked into clicking on malicious links or providing sensitive information. One of the CEO we interviewed, shared with us that their email security solution has "provided our users with valuable information about email security best practices. This has helped to raise awareness of email security risks and reduce the likelihood of users being tricked into clicking on malicious links."
Spam Filters - Marketing emails pour into most inboxes, at best clogging them with unneeded messages and at worst providing malicious links or phishing for sensitive information. Installing a spam filter can help by directing these spam emails into a separate email box so that your main inbox does not get clogged. You can also schedule them to be deleted automatically at fixed intervals.
Antivirus Protection - Even if spam emails are filtered into a separate mailbox, you might still open them and your computer and data might be compromised. Antivirus software scans your emails for malicious content and blocks them from entering or exiting your mailbox, as necessary. As opposed to a spam filter, which just redirects the messages, antivirus protection actually finds and eliminates malicious content.
Image and Content Control - Cyber attackers can include malicious software through files and links as well as images in their phishing emails.Therefore, all of these attachments must be scanned in order to protect your computer from hackers.
Data Encryption - Email data is generally transmitted in an open format and is therefore vulnerable while in transit. Your emails, including recipients’ details and message headers, should all be encrypted so that cyber attackers cannot see the contents or details of your emails. Data encryption is one of the best ways to avoid becoming a victim of phishing scams.
Email is the number one tool for business communication. As flexible, reliable, and convenient as it is, it is here to stay. But despite its benefits, email can be a vector for cyberattacks that can lead to data breaches and potentially billions of dollars in losses for businesses around the world. As digital technologies progress, cyber attackers continue to find new ways to exploit vulnerabilities in email accounts.
Phishing is a kind of attack in which malicious emails designed to trick readers into falling for a scam are sent. Phishing campaigns generally try to get people to reveal credentials, financial information, or other sensitive data.
Spear Phishing is a targeted kind of phishing in which attackers send emails that appear to be from a trusted sender in order to obtain sensitive data. Spear phishing, which involves researching the victims and utilizing advanced intelligence strategies and social engineering techniques, is generally more successful than conventional phishing. Fewer messages are sent out, but they are more convincing.
Whaling is a form of phishing designed to target “whales” - high-profile executives - and manipulate them into authorizing high-value wire transfers to the cyber attacker. Instead of trying to get users to click on links in order to infect their computers with malware, whaling uses email and website spoofing and social engineering to trick users into disclosing sensitive information.
In a business email compromise (BEC) attack, a threat actor accesses a corporate email account and sends fraudulent emails from it in order to steal money from the company’s customers, employees, or partners.
Malware refers to malicious software designed to damage, disrupt, or gain unauthorized access to a computer system. Malware can encrypt or delete sensitive data, steal, hijack, or alter central computing functions, and monitor users’ activity without their knowledge or permission.
Ransomware is a kind of malware that blocks access to the computer system until a ransom is paid. It encrypts the victim’s files until the demanded payment has been made.
Unsolicited spam email - Aside from being annoying, spam may also contain malicious attachments or links and can also be a vector for other kinds of attacks, such as phishing and malware.
Computer viruses are a type of malware that replicate and spread by modifying other computer programs and inserting their own code. Computer viruses can harm hardware, destroy data, compromise sensitive information, and waste time, resources, and energy. Most computer viruses are email viruses, which are activated when a user interacts with the infected email by clicking on a link or downloading an attachment.
In zero-day attacks, a threat actor exploits a vulnerability before the developers have had a chance to release a fix for it. These attacks can result in data theft, lost productivity, system downtime, damaged company reputations, and regulatory actions.
Phishing is a cybercrime in which targets are contacted by email (or by telephone or text message) by a hacker who is posing as a legitimate institution in order to lure the victim into divulging sensitive data such as passwords or other credentials or banking or credit card details.
The information is then used to access accounts and steal identities and/or money.
Phishing is a cheap, easy, and effective means of cyber attack and is therefore the most prevalent type of cybercrime. 75% of organizations worldwide experienced a phishing attack in the year 2020.
“Phishing” can also be used as an umbrella term referring to any type of social engineering attack that takes place over email.
Common features of phishing emails include:
Here are some ways you can reduce the risk of email-based cyber attacks:
90% of all cyber attacks come from email. Although 78% of people know not to click on a suspicious email, 4% of people who receive any given phishing email will click on it. This might not sound like a lot, but it means that for every 25 people you employ, one of them is likely to be scammed.
Here are five signs that indicate your email account might have been compromised:
1. Your password has been changed - If you didn’t change your password but it is being rejected as incorrect, someone may have altered it.
2. Emails (either outgoing or incoming) that you don’t recognise - If you see emails in your sent mail folder that you don’t remember sending, a hacker may have access to your email account. You may also notice that you are receiving password reset emails from websites where hackers are trying to change your password.
3. Unexpected emails - If hackers have gained access to your email account, they may incorporate personal information they have found in your emails into messages they have penned from your bank or credit card company. If you receive a message like this and are unsure whether it is legitimate, call your bank to verify that they are really trying to get in touch with you.
4.Unfamiliar IP addresses show up on your log - If your email shows that you have logged in from an unfamiliar IP address, this is a sign that someone is accessing your account from another location.
5. Your contacts are receiving spam messages from you - If your friends are receiving spam from your email address, you may have been hacked and your personal data is at risk.
Email Security tools employ a range of techniques and technologies to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of email communications. Here is an overview of how the techniques and technologies used accompanied by brief descriptions of how they work:
Email Security tools provide a range of benefits that help organizations and individuals safeguard their communication channels. Here are the key advantages of using email security tools:
1. Protection against phishing attacks:
- Email security tools employ advanced algorithms to detect and block phishing emails.
- They analyze email content, headers, and attachments to identify suspicious links or malicious content.
- By preventing phishing attacks, these tools help users avoid falling victim to scams and prevent unauthorized access to personal or sensitive data.
2. Spam filtering:
- Email security tools use robust spam filters to identify and block unsolicited and unwanted emails automatically.
- These filters analyze various factors such as sender reputation, email content, and user preferences to determine if an email is spam.
- By reducing the amount of spam received, these tools enhance productivity and reduce the risk of users accidentally clicking on malicious links or downloading malware.
3. Malware detection and prevention:
- Email security tools scan incoming and outgoing emails for malware, including viruses, ransomware, and spyware.
- They use signature-based detection, behavioral analysis, and machine learning algorithms to identify and block malicious attachments or links.
- By preventing malware from reaching users' inboxes, these tools protect against data breaches, system compromise, and financial loss.
4. Data loss prevention:
- Email security tools can enforce policies to prevent accidental or intentional data leaks via email.
- They can detect and block sensitive information such as credit card numbers, social security numbers, or intellectual property from being sent outside the organization.
- By ensuring compliance with data protection regulations and preventing data leaks, these tools help maintain the confidentiality and integrity of sensitive information.
5. Encryption and secure communication:
- Email security tools offer encryption capabilities to protect the confidentiality of email content.
- They use various encryption protocols, such as TLS, to secure email communication between sender and recipient.
- By encrypting emails, these tools prevent unauthorized interception and ensure that sensitive information remains confidential.
