Email security is the process to protect accounts and message contents from attacks such as phishing, man-in-the-middle, account-taker attacks, domain spoofing protection, prevention of malware delivery and etc. Email security solution providers have built-in feature to protect the organization against advanced cyber threats.
In the earlier inventions of emails, there were no security or privacy features built in; as a result, it was the main target for attackers to deliver malware through this medium. Email security is the main component of cybersecurity in today’s world to protect critical assets today’s cybersecurity main strategies.
Table of Contents
- What are the types of email attacks?
- Email Domain Spoofing
- Importance of Email security
- Top 7 methods to secure your email
What are the types of email attacks?
- Phishing: Phishing is the act of convincing the victim to provide personal information. Through this attack, users are directed to websites that are hosted by adversaries in which they collect credentials or sensitive information or push the user to send information by replying to the phishing email that is controlled by the attacker. Domain spoofing is one of the more common attacks like this.
- Malware: different types of malware can be delivered through email, which includes adware, spyware, and ransomware. There are many ways to deliver it to the inbox of the user, but the most common way is to deliver it as an attachment that is coupled with malicious code.
- Fraud: Asking the individual to pay for the checking account fee through email is an example of fraud. Most of these attacks are targeted at business emails; they also aim to manipulate the accounts’ departments of huge organizations to transfer money to illegal accounts. When initiating such emails, attackers spoof the domains of legitimate banks to make them look more real.
- Email interception: intercepting emails to get sensitive information from the target is the main intention of an attacker. Mostly, monitoring the data packets of the network on a local area network (LAN) is the method used by the adversaries.
- Account takeover: stealing credentials and sensitive information through emails could result in an account takeover attack; delivering malware that can steal your data will also result in such activity from the adversaries.
Email Domain Spoofing
Forging the “from” field of a legitimate banking site, for example, is called email domain spoofing. In most email-based attacks, the attackers send messages to their target using legitimate lookalike addresses such as legitimatebank@usa.com.
Importance of Email security
More than 4,744,699 email attacks have occurred in the year 2022 alone. With such a huge number, the reliance on built-in security features could put the organization in a vulnerable position, and their assets will be at risk. adversaries are enhancing their abilities to target small to large companies through emails. A user is always a weak link in cybersecurity; only one click can result in a data breach and the loss of millions of dollars. Presently and in the coming years, every organization is advised to have good email security in place.
Top 7 methods to secure your email
- Strong Password: leaked, weak, and reused passwords are the easiest way for attackers to compromise an email account. Hence, a strong and unique combination can be set for the email accounts to provide better security for the email.
- Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): if the account is compromised, it can be used in different attacks, such as lateral movement. Mandatory usage of MFA for all employees is an extra layer of security that can be added.
- Implementation of (DLP): Data Loss Prevention Solutions: Unintentional or intentional leakage of sensitive data can happen. DLP is the recommended solution to identify such activities that could be helpful in order to block the breach or attack before it occurs.
- Malicious Attachment Scan: Email attachments are the method most attackers use to deliver malicious content through email. Attachments that are identified at the beginning of the email being received can stop the cyberattack. Implementing malicious attachment scanning is an effective way to reduce the potential damage that could occur.
- Malicious Attachment Scan: Email attachments are the way most attackers deliver malicious content through email. Attachments that are identified at the beginning of the email received can stop the cyberattack. Implementing malicious attachment scanning is an effective way to reduce the potential damage that could occur.
- Employee Awareness Training: The user is a weakness that attackers that advantage of, they trick them to open a link or download and execute the malicious file. Cybersecurity awareness training can teach the employees about the identification of such emails and what behavior is required when they face such attacks. This will lower the success rate of email phishing attacks.
- Frequent Scanning Activities: The threat landscape in cybersecurity is getting bigger and bigger each day. Cybercriminals are coming up with new tactics to abuse the email technology against organizations. Regular scanning of email traffic can detect new incidents and vulnerabilities, which can increase the security of the email.
