Email is one of the important means of communicating sensitive information internally and externally, without the right security measure and the right technology partner, an entire organization can be breached.

Your business email accounts are prime targets for cybercriminals, as a likely source of valuable business and client data.

Hence, the need to implement email security best practices to help you and your organization mitigate the risk of being breached and thereby losing sensitive data and access to your systems.

According to the Mimecast State of Email Security 2021 Report, sixty percent of organizations stated that an email attack is inevitable or likely in the coming year.
Losing control of such sensitive documents can lead to a loss in revenue and market share, files, and reputation damage.

1. Train staff on email-borne cyberattacks
   This one practice is highly overlooked but most important, this is the most critical aspect of handling email-borne cyberattacks. Every staff regardless of their level in the organization should be given comprehensive training on cybersecurity training describing the full benefits of cybersecurity. All organizations are a target when it comes to cyberattacks, it is very common for one to assume small businesses are safe from cybercrime when on the contrary is the other way round because they are less likely to be equipped with advanced security measures. If an employee who receives a malicious email does not know how to differentiate between a suspicious email from a safe one, the chances of falling victim to a cyberattack are on the high side. Therefore, cybersecurity awareness training is important in any organization. Training should be updated regularly.
2. Improve your endpoint and email security hygiene.
   Enterprises should employ endpoint email security software together with anti-virus protection tools. This will help filter and block malware or spam emails from a suspicious sender and IP addresses and clean up infected systems.

   Endpoint email security encompasses a variety of tools and processes that protect end-user’s devices from being compromised through email-delivered attacks. Employees can be targeted with phishing emails, spam, and malware which if opened could infect their devices and provide gateways for hackers to access the entire enterprise network. Endpoint security software can confirm whether a device meets security policies before allowing it to access an organization’s network.

3. Ensure Password Protection

Passwords are basically the gateway of entry and defense against unauthorized access to sensitive data. So, it is best practice for us to make our passwords strong enough.

One of the best ways to ensure passwords are strong is to implement a password policy for employees to abide by, and educate them to understand what makes a strong password and they are not using something basic. A password policy should include:

• Have a strong password (8 characters in length, lowercase and uppercase letters, symbols, and numbers)
• Come up with passwords for different accounts.
• Ensure passwords do not contain common personal information’s.
• Discourage password sharing with anyone.
• Change your password frequently.
• Use a secure password management tool to store your passwords.

4. Never access emails from public Wi-Fi
   Public Wi-Fi is never secure, and there are many ways in which hackers can steal all the information that passes through a network. Accessing emails via a public Wi-Fi network will make it easy for the passwords to be stolen and thereby granting access to sensitive data. All criminals require is a laptop and basic software to hack into a public Wi-Fi and monitor traffic.
   Some options on the table if staff wants to access their messages outside of the office without a secure Wi-Fi:

• Employees could use their smartphone and mobile internet, that is more secure that any public Wi-Fi.
• Organization might consider getting employees MiFi’s that they can use with their laptops outside the office environment.

These Email Security best practices will help improve security and productivity among you and your Team, as well as ensuring your business email accounts are secured against email-borne threats. None of these email security best practices are designed to work alone when implemented. However, to achieve robust email security, It is KEY for organizations to continue implementing multiple email security best practices to mitigate vulnerabilities and today’s threats.

At FPG Technologies, we pride ourselves in delivering Innovative Technology solutions to solve IT problem your organization may be facing.

We would like to evaluate your email security and propose best email end point security solution to keep your companies’ data intact from cyber-attacks. Click here to start the experience.