| We all know how important email cybersecurity is, but unless it's something you're actively engaged in, it's not always a top priority. Buuuut it should be. Because phishing is the most common form of cyber crime and the average cost of a data breach comes in at over $4 million. And while giant corporations and government organizations might be more attractive to cyber criminals, no business is safe. There's no discrimination when it comes to email-based attacks.
Types of email attacks There's no denying it, these cyber criminals are creative when it comes to thinking up new ways to scam people. They're always evolving their tactics, but these are the main types of attacks you should be vigilant about. - Phishing, spear phishing and whaling: These involve sending a malicious email in order to trick people into supplying sensitive information such as login credentials or bank details
- Malware and ransomware: Malicious software often sent by email that contains an infected attachment or URL
- Spoofing: Involves forging email headers to impersonate an individual or business. Think the John Podesta email breach during the Hilary Clinton campaign
- Business email compromise: The use of social engineering over email to convince the victim to do something (like transfer money)
- Denial of service attacks: Yes, they happen to email too. Attackers bombard mail servers to cause disruption
- Man-in-the-middle attack: Attackers intercept communication allowing them to obtain the contents and potentially modify it
- Account hijacking: When an account is hacked to send malicious emails or monitor activity
Fall victim to one of these attacks and you're looking at the possibility of financial loss, reputational damage, harm to your customers and fines, among others.
As the person managing email, what can you do? On the technical side of things, to prevent attackers from abusing your email, you should always: - Use proper email authentication and encryption
- Use a secure email gateway
- Perform regular software updates
- Always make sure that sensitive information (hello, API keys) is never publicly accessible
But you're probably well aware that this is only half the battle—human error is often the biggest risk. So it's also super important to promote awareness and implement company-wide policies: - Enforce strong password requirements and regular changes
- Enable multi-factor authentication
- Carry out email security training
- Educate on digital footprint management and why it's crucial
- Develop an official policy
We go more in-depth about how to improve email security and prevent an attack in our guide—hit the button below to check it out. | .png)
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