On average, people exchange about 126 business emails every day.
It may not be a new way of communicating, but it’s still one of the most effective. One risk, however, is a lack of proper security. If your business doesn’t maintain secure communication, it could lead to a range of issues.
In this article, we’ll take a look at how you can improve email security to minimize risks while communicating. Keep reading for more.
Email Authentication
Email providers are constantly looking for ways to make their platforms more safe and secure. Yahoo and Gmail have recently announced new requirements with the goal of reducing the risk of spam and phishing attacks.
Senders now need to use a combination of SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) to authenticate their emails. These protocols verify the identity and integrity of the sender.
All bulk email senders need to follow these policies, regardless of location, industry, or business type. Several other Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and mailbox providers are starting to put stronger authentication requirements into place too.
Email System Hardening
Cybercriminals are always looking for new ways to launch attacks, including methods to bypass email authentication. If they’re successful, they can intercept communications and gain access to sensitive information and conversations.
Palitto Consulting Services has built a robust email security configuration baseline policy to help establish the best ways to maintain data protection and email deliverability.
We have a team in place that’s dedicated to ongoing email hardening. This helps us combat new tactics and approaches that cybercriminals are using. Some of these best practices include:
- Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
- Conditional access
- Token expiration
- Blocking risky sign-ins
- Enterprise application controls
- Break glass accounts
- Country blocking
- More
We can apply these controls to your email environment on an ongoing basis as these TTPs (tactics, techniques, and procedures) emerge. This is one of the most reliable ways to keep your email environment as “hardened” as possible.
Email Backup
Unfortunately, important email data can often be lost. This may happen due to accidental deletion, a cybersecurity incident, or the email provider themselves can lose this data.
Email inboxes can be suitable for storage, archiving, and communication auditing, but issues can arise if data is lost. If you use your inbox for such purposes, you may consider having a suitable backup system in place, allowing you to recover from any of these unfortunate events.
There are various backup services that can automatically back up your emails to the cloud, or to your secure infrastructure.
The Importance of Maintaining Secure Communication Within Email
Email will continue to be one of the main methods of business communication in the coming years, so it’s important to follow the best practices to maintain secure communication. This will help protect your business, partners, employees, and customers.
Palitto Consulting helps businesses find and use the best technology to achieve their goals. This includes assisting with system and data security, communications, networking, and more. We can tailor our services to meet your business needs and have been operating for almost 30 years. Take a look at our system and data security page to find out more about how we can help protect your business.
