No matter how large or advanced the organization, email security is a problem. Hackers have plenty of weak links to exploit, with over 300 billion emails being sent each day. Verizon recently conducted a study and found that 94% of malware was delivered by email. Phishing is the most prevalent cyber attack, accounting for over 80% of all reported incidents. 28% of all breaches involve small- and medium-sized businesses. Email is the preferred channel for exploitation. It is essential that businesses have clear guidelines in place to assist employees with today’s digital security threats. It’s possible to prevent data breaches, secure sensitive data, and protect your company’s reputation with a little foresight. In this article, I will discuss the best email security tips for employees.
Verify the sender’s email address
If you get an email asking you to click on the link, verify the sender’s email. Is the email genuine? This category includes emails that pretend to come from LinkedIn, Facebook and Amazon. These emails appear very real until the obvious is spotted. You might be asked for personal information. They may prompt you to log in and verify your details.
Check the URL link address
When the link prompts you to verify your credentials, everyon clicks the link. But was the link genuine? Pay attention to the spelling. The spelling of ‘E’ could have been changed to 3. The letter o might have been replaced with 3. You might see two ‘ns’ in Amazon, or o in Microsoft. A password manager is a great idea. It can help you manage your passwords and alert you to scam websites. It is suspicious if you don’t see your password manager saved password. Use two-factor authentication. Even if a bad actor steals your credentials, they will not be able login to your account. You can protect your online accounts and stop data loss.
Embrace Cybersecurity Training
Your business should provide regular cybersecurity awareness training to its staff as part of its security protocols. This will improve their cybersecurity awareness and instill best email practices for employees. Your company is trying to protect not only its resources but also your privacy. There are many victims when a company is attacked by hackers. These victims include the company, its employees and its customers. Therefore, it is important for all employees to be trained in cybersecurity and to take it seriously. Training in cybersecurity can have a significant impact on your personal and professional lives. For example, you can recognize malicious emails and phishing to help protect your email. This will allow you to avoid cybercriminals’ increasing targeting of individuals.
Use Unique and Strong Passwords
It is essential to have good password habits. Employees must use strong passwords that are unique for each website, service, and application. Employees who reuse passwords are often targeted in corporate email. Cyber criminals will first target company email systems if employees reuse passwords. An email compromised by corporate employees can be used in many criminal schemes. Unique passwords are a key part of the solution. A password locker service is the best way to accomplish this. It allows you to create unique passwords for each site or service and then store them in an encrypted password vault.
Use Caution When Sending an Email
Employees must be vigilant on a daily basis. Employees have easy access to a lot of patient and customer information. Many industries are tightly regulated. It is illegal or immoral to email personally identifiable information or personal health information (PHI), without proper email encryption. Employees should not email PII and PHI in some cases. If it is absolutely necessary, email encryption may be required.
Send your email wisely
It is important that your work email be only shared with those who are absolutely necessary. It is a good idea not to share your work email with anyone. Internal employees are among the most secure ways to send an email. Spam continues to be a problem. Desperate marketers all over the globe still harvest work email addresses and send unwelcome emails. It is possible to reduce annoying spam or unsolicited emails by being extra cautious.
You don’t want to give cybercriminals a head start by sharing your email widely. It’s okay to be a little mysterious. It is a smart idea to block your email from being published to public websites. This allows your sensitive data to be crawled and scraped.
Keep work and personal email separate
It is easy to allow our work and personal lives to blur in today’s fast-paced economy. This is more common with digital communications than ever. Employees should draw a clear line between work and personal emails as one of the best email security practices for both employees and businesses. First, employees are not entitled to privacy on company email systems. Corporate IT cannot view your private life or other private information. However, it is against company policy to allow corporate documents, work products, and company information to be sent via personal email accounts. It is best to keep work and personal emails separate.
Use Secure Devices
Employers are increasingly embracing BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), policies that save time and money. However, these devices can compromise data security. Secure devices are key to preventing data breaches. Employers can provide these devices to control security settings and install security software. This also prevents employees from downloading potentially dangerous apps. It’s possible to avoid a cyberattack by keeping your devices safe and clean, even if you make a mistake downloading malware. Employees are permitted to use personal computers at work. However, they must follow security guidelines.
Implement Multi-Factor Authentication
Multi-factor authentication can be a simple and quick way to increase email security. Employees won’t be able to do this alone, so make sure your company has a clear policy. This will explain how to set-up multi-factor authentication step by step. Employers can’t modify the settings of corporate email accounts protected with two-factor authentication. When setting up multifactor authentication, remember not to use real answers to authentication recovery questions. Many recovery questions require information that can be found online, such as your mother’s maiden name. Fake answers can help you stay ahead of scammers and hackers.
Avoid using public Wi-Fi
Remote work security guidelines are essential, as there are so many people working remotely. Public Wi-Fi should be included in these guidelines. Public Wi-Fi can be viewed by others and is not always secure. A basic computer and a laptop are all that are required to hack into an email account via public Wi-Fi.
A VPN can be used to connect through public Wi-Fi, which will reduce the risk of data breaches. It is possible for employees to forget to activate this option, so it is best to avoid using public Wi-Fi altogether.
Use a spam filter
Your email service providers like Gmail and Outlook usually have spam filters built in. This helps to filter spam from your inbox so that you only see relevant emails for your business. Spammers can also send malware, ransomware or suspicious links to you, so it is best to get rid of them before they see your users. Statista estimates that approximately 306.4 billion emails will be sent each day in 2020. Nearly half (43%) of all email traffic spam was in September 2020. Spam filters make it easier to face your inbox. Your employees will be more focused on their tasks and more alert to suspicious activity if there isn’t a lot of spam. Do not open spam emails. These are another way for spammers to get into your inbox.
Final Thoughts
It is vital that small business owners protect their email. Not only are you responsible for yourself, your staff, and your investors, but so is your clientele and potential investors. Most likely, sensitive information in your company needs to be secured. This could include financial information, customer information, and mailing lists. Your company could be in serious financial trouble if a cybercriminal has access to the information. You must spend as much time as possible educating your employees about email security to ensure your company is secure. Motivating and holding them accountable can be hard, but it is an essential step to increase your organizational security.
