If you're not doing these 3 things, you're not as secure as you think
Avatu - the information security advisors
Email security is a big problem, even for smaller companies.
But many believe they've 'got it covered' by their inbuilt or superficial protection…but many organisations are actually more vulnerable than they think. Email is – BY FAR - the biggest risk when it comes to information security.
Incredibly, 91% of all cyber-attacks start with an email. You might also be surprised to hear that more than 4 in 10 UK businesses suffered a data breach in the past 12 months.
And you're now 40% more likely to be a victim of cybercrime than burglary (but many companies are better prepared to prevent a burglary than a data breach).
Many organisations don't realise that small, simple and cost-effective technologies - added to their anti-virus programmes and their firewall software - can make a BIG difference.
And innovative email solutions are available that make you MUCH MORE secure but won't break the bank.
Although the problem landscape is far from simple, simple activities can significantly change the threats an organisation – large or small – faces.
THREE Simple things you can do to reduce your security risk from email
1. Train your people, and then test they're getting it right (again and again)
• Build your resilience by turning your people into part of your security defences
• By training your people – and then regularly testing their knowledge with unannounced simulated phishing attacks – you turn everyone in your teams into your frontline against email threats
• Online training modules teach them what to look out for and then makes sure they are putting it into practice.
You'll also know where your weak links are through inbuilt reporting tools, and show you're taking GDPR seriously
• This simple but innovative programme takes away the burden of creating the materials from your in-house teams.
And it makes sure everyone is best prepared to deal with this constant and ever-growing problem themselves
• Amazingly, costs for this initiative start at only £1 per person per month and demos can be easily arranged.
2. Take the risk out of email attachments – and still have them in a genuinely useable format
• Email attachments are often used as a 'Trojan horse' which hides malware designed to evade usual defences
• Specialist technology, however, stops malware in its tracks by recreating safe but, importantly, still fully useable documents. It means you can trust every file sent by email, every time
• Unique deep-file inspection, remediation and sanitisation technology creates safe, clean and visually identical copies of files
• The programme compares each file against its published specification, a move which sanitises known risks, removes hidden threats and regenerates files in their original format
• Any threats, known or unknown, hidden or in plain sight, are disarmed
• Free trials are available.
3. Catch – and stop - dangers which are routinely missed by the standard security inbuilt into cloud-based email systems by having full visibility of your email traffic (and threats)
• Every organisation which uses a cloud-based email service has a security vulnerability...unless they take special action to deal with it
• While they can block spam and some rudimentary threats, Office 365Mail and Gmail's native email protection cannot detect and block advanced threats such as ransomware, credential stealers, spear-phishing, business email compromise (BEC), and account takeover (ATO)
• Also, protecting cloud email is more challenging than on-premises email
• There is technology, however, which gives full visibility of everything that is going through your email, and stops advanced malware which others miss
• The subscription model, with low user-based pricing, provides superior protection while increasing the efficiency and productivity of your security resources
• Free 14-day trials mean you can test it yourself without any commitment.
Blog advice from Rob Savage, Chief Technology Officer with Avatu, the information security advisors.
Rob can be contacted on 01296 621121 or email: Rob.Savage@avatu.co.uk
