When it comes to managing information in any company, email is a basic and essential communication tool. Sometimes, the company may have to use more than one email account and surely there will be several emails sent and received daily.
Associated with the use of any corporate communication tool, also for email, the company must have a policy defined for correct and safe use. In addition, it must spread among the employees and guarantee that it is complied with. In this way, you will ensure that your employees can send and receive emails with confidential information, without the damage that could be caused by possible attacks. In addition, this policy will mark the actions to be carried out to protect corporate mailboxes against spam or phishing emails that try to steal credentials or impersonate the identity of people or entities.
E-mail is a tool that provides great benefits in terms of availability, accessibility, speed, the possibility of sending several documents to various recipients, etc., which makes it possible to speed up a large part of the day-to-day tasks of any office. But in turn, this tool is one of the most common sources of cyberattacks and the introduction of malware in any company. It is very important that, in addition to a solid use policy, training and awareness for employees are taken into account, since they are the end-users of email accounts.
Tips to protect your Email
To prevent e-mail from being a gateway for cyberattacks in our organization, different areas of action must be addressed.
In general, you need to:
- Make secure configurations and keep your information systems updated.
- Implement cybersecurity solutions that allow you to monitor and secure office tools.
- Create a culture of cybersecurity in employees through continuous training and awareness.
- To go into a little more detail, you present the minimum measures that you consider should be implemented in any type of organization, regardless of the type (public or private), the sector, and the size.
The security of your email accounts is a vital issue if you run a small business, and it is necessary to address this issue to eliminate the risks of these malicious threats. We invite you to read on to learn how to protect your email communications with our business email security tips.
1. Create a Cyber Security Plan
Having an online security plan is one of the best security tips for a company’s email infrastructure, it is indeed only one component of an overall security strategy, but it is not the least important. This plan must establish protocols that ensure that your staff is equipped to face and respond to any threat; a good online security plan is the basis for the protection of your company.
2. Implement the best work from home practices
With the COVID-19 pandemic, many organizations have been forced to operate remotely, which has led to an increase in the number of email phishing attacks, since employees work outside the security perimeter of the company, they are the most likely to be victims of social engineering attacks.
Companies operating remotely must implement strong security practices, which align with their business goals; all employees who work from home must know how to use up-to-date and robust antivirus and security software. You can also use a secure Wi-Fi connection with encryption and a hard-to-guess router password to increase your security.
3. Implement mobile device management policies
Companies should create strict mobile device management policies governing the use of personal or company mobile devices for sending and receiving business emails. Such policies should govern the creation of strong passwords, phone number locks, and app locks.
Business owners can install an enterprise-grade solution with built-in mobile device management capabilities to help protect all critical business information.
4. Use an encryption service for your emails
Small business owners should use service providers that encrypt incoming and outgoing emails to prevent cybercriminals from gaining access to their messages to extract information; You can encrypt your emails in various ways, according to the level of security you want.
Companies can use a third-party encrypted email hosting service or install a security certificate for their emails on their sending server, which allows their employees to share a secret key to install or remove encryption from their messages.
5. Enforce security protocols for your emails
Emails are designed without security in mind, making it imperative that companies apply email security protocols to protect their messages from malicious access. Assuming this process of adopting security protocols for your emails can help your company prevent phishing and identity theft.
6. Meet cyber awareness
Small and medium-sized businesses need to run cyber awareness programs to educate their employees on the risks of email attacks and the steps to take when detecting malicious messages. Here are some practices that you should teach your employees to apply.
7. Password hygiene
Password hygiene strengthens your online security defenses against potential attackers, as they tend to guess passwords, and use credential stuffing or brute force attacks to affect accounts with weak protection measures. That said, companies also need to pay attention to the password hygiene of their employees, so it’s good practice to adhere to the use of password management systems. Creating unique and strong passwords as well as keeping them up to date for multiple accounts is much easier with dedicated software.
These systems offer features such as the generation of secure keys, online access through your master key to an administration panel, and the ability to manage different devices simultaneously, among other capabilities. However, it must be taken into account that by centralizing all our passwords in a third-party service, we are giving up and entrusting the security of all our records to the same system, which implies risk, even when it is reduced, given the reputation of these services.
8. Screen lock
If you walk away from your workspace, do you lock your computer? This may not seem or feel relevant, but leaving your computer unlocked gives an attacker access to any sensitive information you handle.
Final thoughts
Hackers are always sending malicious emails to businesses to steal vital information and compromise their networks, so small business owners need to apply good security practices throughout their email infrastructure to be prepared to deal with this type of attack. risks.
Now that you are aware of the best security tips for your email, you can protect your email, as well as your customers and employees from malicious attacks. Do not forget to create a solid security plan, train your employees to know how to detect phishing attacks, and teach them how to respond, keep in mind that a backup is also essential to keep you operational.
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