Business Email Security Tips Every Organization Must Follow

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Business Email Security Tips Every Organization Must Follow
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Malicious emails are the most common entry point for cyber attacks. The average employee receives 121 emails each day and 1.2% of those are phishing emails. 1.2% may not seem like a high amount, but it does mean that each one of your employees encounter 1.4 (one or two) phishing emails every day (based on the 121 average). This consistent exposure significantly increases the likelihood of a successful attack – if proper business email security measures and awareness training are not in place.

“The email security practices that you may follow for personal use may not be enough for business-grade environments. Therefore, your organization needs you to implement more advanced email security measures.” Jason Sondhi, CEO, EXOS IT

This resource will provide a list of tips to enhance email security for business networks. These business-grade email security best practices are critical for every organization that relies on email services in their everyday communications.

 

Business Email Security Practices Every Organization Should Implement

 

1. Enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

If you haven’t already, enable MFA for every email account connected to your network. Strong passwords will reduce your risk of email account compromise, but no password is completely immune to theft. MFA provides an additional layer of security to protect your account in the event of credential theft. Microsoft claims that this layer will prevent 99.9% of attempts.

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2. Encrypt Your Emails

Implement email encryption tools to secure sensitive messages.

Encryption ensures that only authorized recipients can access the email’s content. Furthermore, many organizations focus only on encrypting email content but overlook metadata like sender information, subject lines, or routing data. Encrypting metadata enhances business email protection against metadata mining, which can reveal critical patterns to attackers.

Here are a few encryption protocols that you may find useful.

Protocol How It Works Why It’s Helpful
TLS (Transport Layer Security) Encrypts the communication channel between email servers during transmission to protect data in transit. Prevents interception of emails while in transit to protect data from unauthorized access during transmission.
S/MIME (Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) Uses digital certificates to encrypt emails and verify sender identity. Ensures only verified recipients can access emails, which reduces risks of email tampering.
PGP/OpenPGP (Pretty Good Privacy) Encrypts emails using a public key system, where recipients decrypt the message using their private key. Provides strong protection for email content, even if the email is intercepted.

 

3. Authenticate Outgoing Emails

Set up email authentication protocols such as DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance), DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) and/or SPF (Sender Policy Framework).

These protocols prevent email spoofing by verifying that outgoing messages originate from authorized servers.

Business Email Security

 

4. Implement Zero Trust Policies

Adopt a Zero Trust approach by verifying and validating every email interaction. Configure rules that analyze metadata, attachments, and links for suspicious activity before delivery. This approach eliminates automatic trust in any email.

 

5. Email Segmentation

Segment email accounts based on roles, departments, or access levels. For example, accounts handling sensitive data can have stricter security controls than general accounts. Segmentation ensures a breach in one area doesn’t compromise the entire organization.

 

6. Enforce Time-Sensitive Email Links

Use tools that limit the validity of email links to a predefined period. Expired links become inactive. Therefore, there will be less risk of a malicious actor exploiting these links. This practice is especially important for temporary collaboration tools or password resets.

Protect Your Organization From More Than Simply Email Threats

 

7. Conduct Security Awareness Training Regularly

Phishing attacks are not as easy to detect as many people believe. Research shows that while 90% of individuals express confidence in their ability to identify phishing emails, only 5% successfully pass phishing simulations. Therefore, regular training is critical.

Conduct regular training sessions to teach employees how to recognize and report phishing attempts. Emphasize checking email sender details, avoiding suspicious links and verifying unexpected requests for sensitive information.

Also, run regular phishing simulations to assess employee readiness and identify gaps in email security practices. Use the results to improve training and refine security protocols.

 

8. Use Secure Connections for Email Access

Require employees to use virtual private networks (VPNs) or other secure methods to access business email when working remotely. Secure connections protect email data from being intercepted on unsecured networks.

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9. Work With Managed Cybersecurity Services

Partner with a managed cybersecurity provider like EXOS IT to benefit from defense-in-depth email security solutions. Professional services enhance business email protection by integrating advanced threat protection and response capabilities.

Our services include advanced email filtering and regular phishing simulations to help prevent suspicious emails. Tell us about what’s normal for your email accounts and our AI and machine learning algorithms will block activity that goes against your expectations.

Contact us today to learn more.