Email has long been a vital tool for communicating and sharing critical information. With emerging technology, it has stood the test of time and surfaced as a crucial source of communication in this digital world. Modern threats have significantly impacted the email system by making it a primary target because it contains sensitive business information. This blog will explore various security threats that can be transferred through Email.
5 Common Email Security Threats
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Malware
Malware refers to a broad range of cyber threats that can infect the entire business network through emails. Malware enters the network through malicious emails containing links, downloadable documents, attachments, and embedded scripts. Hackers access critical business information once these links are clicked or documents are downloaded. This malware often runs in the background of the systems, identifying and collecting vital information and analyzing patterns and behaviors.
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Quishing
Quishing is a QR code-based phishing attack. To conduct the attack, a malicious link is attached to the QR code or behind an image. A typical email security solutions looks for suspicious links in the message body but might neglect an embedded link behind a picture or voice message. Such phishing attacks make traditional email security systems ineffective in identifying threats and viruses, allowing them to slip into the targeted audience easily.
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Spam
A mass of uninvited emails forms spam emails. These emails mainly consist of advertisements related to a product or service that may create a sense of urgency and try to obtain sensitive information from the target. If the recipient is tricked and gives away vital information, this can lead to financial loss. Spam attackers use sophisticated tools like "harvesters" to conduct such attacks.
Spam emails stored can cause substantial financial losses to businesses. Thus, filtering out all spam emails before they enter corporate accounts and steal critical data is vital.
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Spoofing
Spoofing is when attackers mask themselves as someone whom the recipient trusts. In this case, attackers take the form of a famous brand or organization in close contact with the recipient. Spoofing attacks can be of many types, such as Email spoofing, IP address Spoofing, Caller ID Spoofing, DNS Spoofing, and ARP spoofing.
Here are some indicators of spoofing attacks:
- Misspelled domain name
- Discrepancy in email address
- Poor grammar or Typo error
- Unasked attachments
- Unidentified links and URLs
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Zero Day Attack
Attackers launch zero-day attacks by identifying vulnerable gaps in the system before the organization recognizes them. The attacker then sends an email with code designed through a social engineering mechanism. Once the file containing the code is downloaded, the attack occurs in the background, gathering all the sensitive information and creating havoc in the IT system. These attacks are done before the vulnerable gaps are identified. Thus, it becomes difficult to defend against such attacks, causing significant financial losses.
7 Ways To Prevent Email Security Threats
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Authenticate Sender
Thoroughly verify the sender's authenticity using encryption standards and policies to prevent spoofing and spam emails.
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Block Unwanted Sender and Spam
Spam filters can defend your account from malicious attackers, spoofing, and phishing emails. These spam filters are software designed to identify and detect malware that comes with malicious emails. Email spam filters can protect your organization from unwanted threats and reduce the risk of your critical information being compromised.
Fusion Factor offers reliable Email and spam protection services, protecting sensitive business information from spammers and malicious attackers.
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Don't Click On The Suspicious Link Or Attachments.
Link and attachments and links are the easy way intruders can slip into corporate accounts through emails. Don't click on suspicious links or download attachments, even if trusted people send them. Verify the sender's account before opening the attachment or sharing personal details. Always check for grammar or typo errors in the email message and the spelling of the brand that is sending emails. If you need help, go to the website through the search engine. Clear your doubts by contacting the sender through other communication channels before sharing sensitive data.
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Make Multi-Factor Authentication A Priority
Multifactor-factor authentication provides an extra layer of protection to your device. When you log in to your account, it first asks for a password, and then a second layer of security asks for a code or a biometric fingerprint to log in. This extra layer of defense makes it difficult for malicious actors to access your account, even if they have the login details.
Accounts that carry vital business information should have multi-factor authentication. Many email security solutions providers offer these services, so investing in defense mechanisms is better than incurring a significant loss in a ransomware attack.
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Get Backup Of Sensitive Data
Implementing a robust cybersecurity strategy should be the first line of defense against cyberattacks. But this, too, doesn't eliminate the risk. Plan B should be backing up vital business data. Companies can protect their backup by following the below steps:
Creating Additional Backup: Create multiple copies of vital business information and keep some of it away from your business network, making it difficult for attackers to reach.
Backup Isolation: Take data backup of your critical data into hardware and isolate it so that it becomes difficult for ransomware attackers to reach the data from an infiltrated system.
Fusion Factor offers reliable data backup and disaster recovery services to protect your data and minimize downtime.
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Stay Away From Public wifi.
Using public wifi can bring you closer to many other security risks. If you are sharing your network using public wifi, then you are sharing your network with hundreds and thousands of people who are using that network. If you are accessing your email account using public wifi, attacks can quickly access your sensitive data, especially if the Email is not encrypted.
Using a VPN (Virtual Private Network) or encrypted emails should be your defense strategy to shield your data while using public wifi.
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Implement Robust Email Security Services
There is no replacement for dedicated email security services to protect your business data from attackers. Fusion Factor offers Email and Spam protection services that can change how you access your Email. Our email security services include:
Secure storage of vital data
Rerouting large amounts of data
Protecting data from viruses
Indexing emails to get quick access to your information
Our email security services defend your crucial data against threats, ensuring you work safely.
Wrap Up!!
With technological advancement, new email threats have been added to the list of cyber attacks, making it more difficult for companies to survive. It is advisable to stay updated with the latest security measures to protect Email from spammers, malware, and ransomware attackers. Our IT Support San Diego experts work round the clock to detect anomalies in your system and defend them before they cause colossal damage.
Are you seeking robust cybersecurity services to protect your business from malicious actors? Look no further than Fusion Factor. Contact us today to learn more about our services. We are always ready to help you. Stay Safe, Stay Secure!