Since its emergence in the 1970s, emails have been revolutionising the way we communicate in both our personal and professional lives. Even with the growing number of messaging or chat platforms, emails have remained the go-to form of communication for businesses globally.
However, despite the convenience and efficiency of emails, one of the downsides of emails is its security vulnerability. Viruses, data breaches and ransomware attacks are just some of the significant threats that might leave your company vulnerable to operational, financial, and reputational disasters. This is where email security solutions come into play.
The importance of email security for businesses
Many businesses might be unaware of their susceptibility to malicious threats if their email system is not adequately protected. As mentioned earlier, with emails being the primary form of communication for companies all over the world, this leaves emails as the most common way for cyber-attacks to take place. In fact, 90 per cent of cyber-attacks on organisations begin with a malicious email! Therefore, email security should be considered a main priority when devising any cyber security strategy.
Types of email threats
Without reliable email security solutions, your company is at a higher risk of being susceptible to various email threats. Here are some of the most common types of email threats that could threaten your company’s cyber security.
Phishing attacks
Email phishing is the most common type of cyberattack, in which hackers send false emails that appear to be legitimate to trick the victim into doing a certain action, such as clicking on a link, opening an attachment, or submitting login credentials. If a cyber criminal is successful in luring employees into supplying their login credentials, they can steal this information to install malware on the employee’s computer, access your corporate network and steal valuable data or perform cyber-attacks. Email security solutions protect your employees against malicious phishing emails that may bypass other in-line security tools.
The exploitation of cloud email
With remote work becoming the new normal for many businesses, there is a growing use of cloud-based email and document sharing solutions such as Microsoft 365 and Google Drive. Cyber criminals may send out an email disguised as a shared document link that prompts the victim to enter their credentials in order to view the content. From there, cyber criminals could use these stolen credentials to access data through your company’s cloud.
Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks
DDoS attacks on email servers typically target businesses that conduct their sales via email. Cyber criminals may employ hijacked botnets to flood the targeted company with emails, causing a system overload that would force the email server to shut down. This could severely impact a business’s financial stability and reputation, especially if the company relies heavily on email communications to manage their sales.
Conclusion
Email security is a critical issue that companies must address in order to strengthen their defences against harmful attacks. A simple malicious email could potentially cause an entire company substantial financial and intellectual losses.
If you are looking for quality email security solutions, TYPENT has got your back. We provide a range of IT outsource services in Singapore to ensure optimal performance for your business’s IT departments. Among our comprehensive range of products and services offered is TrendMicro Email Security – an enterprise-class and cloud-based secure email gateway solution that safeguards your company’s network against external threats.
At TYPENT, we are committed to providing our clients with the best IT support. No matter if you are looking for the best firewall for companies in Singapore or a reliable antivirus software, we are your one stop shop for all your office IT support needs. On top of exceptional outsourced products and technological solutions, we can also provide you with a tailor-made IT strategy for your business to grow and reach greater heights.
Reach out to us today for any enquiries, and let us work together to safeguard your company’s data.