- 12th September, 2024
- By Riya
Back in the olden days, mails were the best way of communication, and with time it developed into “email”. That basically stands for electronic mail. As kids we have been taught how to write emails and at this point in life, most of the world needs email id confirmation to sign up or login to any website, be it an online gaming platform or a shopping app. Email is one of the ways life has been made easier, although keeping ourselves safe despite this is still important. We have to ensure our accounts are secure. Let's take a deeper look at what email security is.
Email security encompasses a range of measures and strategies designed to safeguard email communications, preserving the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of messages. It serves as a crucial defense for individuals and organizations alike, aiming to prevent unauthorized access, data breaches, and the transmission of malicious content. By implementing effective email security measures, sensitive information remains private and protected throughout its transmission.
Various forms of email attacks stem from malicious intent, each posing a unique threat. To ensure your awareness and protection, here are several common types of email attacks:
- Phishing: Attackers masquerade as legitimate organizations to deceive users into disclosing sensitive information.
- Social Engineering: Manipulating individuals into sharing confidential data or performing actions that compromise security.
- Spear Phishing: Targeted phishing attacks that focus on specific individuals or organizations, employing personalized emails.
- Ransomware: Malicious software that encrypts files or systems until a ransom is paid.
- Malware: Software intended to infiltrate and harm computer systems without the user's consent.
- Spoofing: Attackers forge email headers, making messages appear as if they originate from trusted sources.
- Man-in-the-Middle Attack: Intercepting communication between two parties, enabling message interception, modification, or injection.
- Data Exfiltration: Sophisticated attacks aimed at stealing sensitive data from an organization's email system.
- Denial of Service: Overwhelming email servers by sending a massive volume of emails, rendering them unable to function.
- Account Takeover: Unauthorized access to an individual's email account, often utilized for sending spam or phishing emails or accessing sensitive data.
- Identity Theft: The theft of an individual's personal information, such as name, address, or social security number, for fraudulent purposes.
- Brand Impersonation: Attackers impersonate reputable brands to deceive recipients into revealing sensitive information.
Being aware of these email attack types can assist in recognizing and mitigating potential threats to your cybersecurity.
Apart from this, one of the most common terms we may have come across when it comes to emails is spam. But do we actually know what is spam? Spam refers to unwanted or inappropriate email messages that are sent without the recipient's consent. Most email providers have spam filtering mechanisms in place, but some spam messages still manage to reach users' inboxes.
Over time, spammers develop a negative "email sender reputation," resulting in an increasing number of their messages being flagged as spam. To circumvent detection, spammers often resort to tactics such as compromising user inboxes, stealing IP address space, or spoofing domains. Individuals and organizations can employ various strategies to reduce the amount of spam they receive. They can minimize or eliminate the public exposure of their email addresses, utilize third-party spam filters in addition to their email service's built-in filtering, and consistently mark spam emails as such to improve the effectiveness of their filtering systems.
We must also note that email security policies are a set of rules that an organization puts in place to govern the use of email and ensure the protection of messages. The main objective of these policies is to safeguard emails from unauthorized access, including attempts by cyber attackers to infiltrate confidential messages exchanged within and outside the organization's network.
The specific measures to enforce email security may vary from one organization to another, but typically include a combination of the following:
- Strong password requirements: Users are required to create complex and difficult-to-guess passwords for their email accounts. Regular password changes are also encouraged, and individuals are advised against using the same password for multiple accounts.
- Multi Factor authentication: This additional layer of security necessitates users to provide multiple forms of identification, such as a password along with a fingerprint or a code sent to their mobile device, in order to access their email accounts.
- Email encryption: By implementing an email encryption solution, the risks associated with regulatory violations, data loss, and breaches of corporate policies can be mitigated. This technology enables secure communication for essential business correspondence.
- Email attachments: Policies should be established regarding acceptable file types for attachments, and scanning tools should be employed to detect and eliminate malware before it enters the network.
- Security awareness training: Employees should receive training to exercise caution when interacting with links or downloading email attachments. They should only click on links or download attachments from trusted sources to minimize the risk of security breaches.
- Regular software updates: A patch management strategy should be implemented to ensure that email security software is regularly updated, thus protecting against emerging threats.
- Data retention: Organizations can establish guidelines specifying how long emails should be stored and when they should be deleted to prevent unauthorized access to outdated information.
- Secure email gateway: A secure email gateway (SEG) safeguards an organization's email flow by blocking unwanted inbound messages, such as spam, phishing attacks, or malware. It also analyzes outgoing messages to prevent the leakage of sensitive data from the organization.
By implementing these measures and staying vigilant, you can enhance the security of your email and protect your sensitive information from unauthorized access or misuse. Since mails are one of the best ways of formal communication, it is important for us to ensure that it is safe and secure.
