Email security is an important element that all businesses should carefully attend to. The email security field is growing exponentially, and with good reason. There is a massive increase in cybersecurity attacks that originate from emails. Most of these attacks can be prevented by implementing high-end email security solutions. Due to the growth of the email security field, there are a lot of new players with different innovative solutions. With all these newer options, you might find it hard to decide which solution to implement for your business. To help you decide, here are some of the best options for business email security.
Malware protection refers to the measures taken to prevent, detect, and remove malicious software, commonly known as malware, from computer systems and networks. Malware includes viruses, trojans, spyware, ransomware, and other malicious software that can harm computer systems and steal sensitive data.
Why is email security important?
Social engineering attacks are getting more innovative, but the delivery system remains the same. Exploits against businesses are primarily delivered using emails. In most cases, employees are targeted, and the attackers count on them to make a security error.
If an employee falls for their tactics, they can access the organization’s system and even initiate a ransomware attack. Alternatively, attackers can use the access they have attained from their exploit to conduct other Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks.
Email security solutions are very important to prevent these attacks because they alert employees on potential social engineering exploits. Security tools act as a safety net for employees that are not adept with security hygiene principles. Using email security solutions in conjunction with training personnel on social engineering tactics can provide watertight protection from this kind of attack.
Advanced Email Security
Amongst the most innovative cybersecurity tools, there are Advanced Email Security tools. This next-gen email security software provides much more than just basic scans. Instead, it focuses on comprehensively scanning each email arriving in your inbox.
Any email that raises suspicion is flagged and isolated for users to take advanced steps about it. There are a lot of aspects that Advanced Email Security tools use to categorize emails accordingly. Some aspects that this software inspects include the sender’s origin and domain eligibility.
Scanning these aspects of each email could reveal any social engineering attacks originating from duplicate domains. If the legibility of a domain can not be confirmed, an email is classified as potential fraud. Additionally, Advanced Email Security software scans attachments and URL links attached to that mail.
Antivirus software
Antivirus is often viewed as a one size fits all solution that can be used both by companies and individuals. Modern antivirus software provides comprehensive security measures that secure your computer online and offline. You can choose an antivirus software that works for online downloads and domain inspections.
The most recent antivirus software comes with online security as a standard feature. However, others focus on scanning the local drive only. Getting online security coverage is very important to avoid opening attachments that are not safe.
At the same time, antivirus software that scans domain legibility can prevent you from going into sites used for social engineering attacks. This will also improve your crypto wallet security which provides extra security when buying cryptocurrency online.
Spam filters
An effective method for filtering emails is using the spam folder. For personal email service providers like Google Mail, this feature comes as a standard value-added benefit. However, for professional mailboxes, you might need to set it up and get a more comprehensive spam filter.
Using an AI-powered spam filter to determine whether an email is legitimate can prevent social engineering attacks. Emails suspected to be social engineering attacks will be sent to a different email folder. At the same time, spam filters help with organizing mailboxes.
Most promotional emails are also categorized as spam, which prevents social engineering to a certain degree. Some email frauds are done under the pretense of promotional mail. Therefore, categorizing all promotional emails as spam minimizes the chances of hastily clicking on a link or attachment.
Image & Content Control
Attachments and URLs are the main sources of email attacks. These two aspects are mostly used as malware mules that infect a computer and its network. However, some tools disregard the possibility of images and other content being malware mules.
Some images embedded in the email body could be malware sources with malicious software like ransomware or other phishing material. These images could be hyperlinked with malicious software and accidentally clicking on them triggers the malware.
To prevent this from happening, there are image and content control security tools that focus primarily on embedded pictures or other media. These tools scan all media embedded in the email body to render it safe or suspicious.
How to safely access potentially infected files
Companies do have the option of accessing potentially infected files. If a file has been flagged as potential fraud, the email can be sent to cybersecurity professionals within the company. If they are skilled and equipped for this procedure, the cybersecurity personnel can conduct Content Disarm and Reconstruction (CDR).
This procedure allows companies to strip away all potential harmful malware from a file and reconstruct it to its original state. For suspected malware files, cyber security teams can open them in a network sandbox separate from your business network.
The team will open that file in a separate coding environment with no risk of an infection spreading. Implementing these additional security measures can reduce the risk of an infection spreading. You can find other low-scale tools that individuals can use for their personal use with similar risk prevention protocols.
Security processes for opening suspicious links
To open suspicious links, organizations can also implement a solution similar to the one mentioned above for opening infected files. For suspicious links, the most common method is called Remote Browser Isolation. This type of browser is external and is isolated from the business network.
If the link is legitimate but was mistakenly categorized as suspicious, you can interact with that website. However, it is not clean and has some malware. The Remote Browser Isolation will protect your computer and the organization’s network.
Additionally, users can implement URL rewriting for all of the links they click from their mailbox. URL rewriting is an efficient way of disarming malware on website links. If the link is malware, it will be converted to a non-clickable version, protecting your computer and business network.
