No of the size of the company they manage, business owners have benefited greatly from the advancements in science and technology in recent decades. Hackers, con artists, and other individuals who try to attack can benefit from this technology.
New vulnerabilities in email security are being discovered all the time. Even though there is no way to fully protect oneself, we have devised a number of effective email security practises that can reduce risk and keep you secure from the majority of security attacks. These practises can be found in the following paragraphs. Discuss the following options.
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Examine the activities of the email
The first thing to do in order to ensure the security of corporate emails is to monitor what other people do with their own emails. The elimination of a problem’s underlying source is recommended as the most effective method of resolution by a great number of analysts and specialists.
You will only be able to accomplish this by analysing and demonstrating how your team uses email. For instance, you may inform them of the number of emails that you and your co-workers send and receive on a daily basis as well as the number of newsletters that your organisation receives.
Investigate the amount of time that is spent by your company on conversations and threads with people who are not affiliated with your company. Hackers and cyberpunks will typically attempt to earn the trust of their victim before attempting to deceive them. They send email messages that contain malicious attachments and URLs.
If you monitor the email activity of your firm on a regular basis, you will be able to determine who is sending and receiving emails from people outside of your organisation and whether or not members of your staff are responding to these messages. As a result, you will be able to determine whether or not your business emails and/or your firm itself are at risk.
If you operate a large company, you have the option of establishing a department that is only responsible for monitoring and analysing email. Employees will need to handle this on their own time because owners of small businesses may not be able to afford a crew to assist them.
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Strong codes for passwords
The majority of people have employed insecure passwords. According to the findings of a survey, more than 3 million individuals use the same passwords for their personal and professional accounts.
This illustrative scenario demonstrates how critical it is to have a robust password. Homes that are not protected by gates or doors are frequently broken into. The installation of a gate decreases the likelihood of being robbed. The installation of cameras in discrete locations across the building makes entry more difficult.
Email accounts require unique passwords, similar to the locks on your front door. If you select a straightforward number combination or your birthday as your password, it will be very easy for cybercriminals to access your account and take your information. When you use robust passwords, you can worry about security less.
The following are some of the measures that experts recommend doing to make passwords more secure:
- Employ both capital letters and small letters in your writing
- It is possible to utilise both symbols and numbers
- Do not utilise information such as names, birthdays, identification numbers, or anything else that can be easily deduced
- Use lengthier passwords. When you add a letter to a string, the number of permutations that are available to you grows. This makes it more difficult to speculate and crack the code
- Use sentences rather than individual words
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Always make sure you use a unique password for each account
Using passwords that are both strong and unique for your email is a terrific idea and works really effectively. If you create a password like this, you’ll want to use it for all of your online accounts.
Reusing passwords for email accounts that are associated with your identity is a significant security concern for commercial organisations. Hackers are aware that people frequently reuse passwords for both their professional and personal online accounts. If they are able to hack one account, then they will have access to all of the others using the same password.
According to the recommendations of several experts, personal email accounts and work email accounts ought to have different passwords. Individuals who have a lot of accounts might not be able to remember dozens or even hundreds of different passwords for each one of those accounts. A password manager and a single sign-on are two useful technologies that can be used.
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Changing your passwords is recommended, especially when a security breach has occurred
If you have more than one account, coming up with a secure new password once every few weeks can be difficult. As time passes on, some people change their passwords less frequently than they once did. If you do not frequently update your password, both you and your company run the risk of experiencing a security breach. This is due to the competitive nature of the business sector.
There is no regulation that requires users to regularly change their passwords. Altering your password once every six months is recommended by some security experts, while others maintain that it should only be done once every three months. When you update your password, you should do it with consideration given to how secure you and your organisation want to be, as well as your own personal risk factors.
You are free to disregard this precautionary measure if frequently updating your password is an inconvenience for you. If you have any reason to believe that someone has obtained access to your information, you should change your password.
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Attacks Conducted Through Phishing
Do you enjoy fishing? If not, the presence of food will entice fish. When the fish gets close enough to your fishing pole, you set the hook in it.
What do you think about the security of business email and fishing? Phishing is quite similar to fishing in many ways. You receive a bogus survey from your bank or an eBay notice that was created by hackers or con artists. It’s possible for the person who falls into the trap to hand out sensitive information including login credentials, credit card details, and more. The CEO Fraud Scam, W-2 Phishing, Lotto Winning Scam, and Nigerian Prince Scam are four of the most widespread and well-known examples of email scams.
No major website or reputable authority will send you an email containing your login information unless you specifically request it. Hackers and con artists are becoming more adept at sending emails that are designed to look legitimate and sound intelligent. To be on the safe side, contact the relevant authority on their website and inquire as to whether or not they received the suspicious email. The “survey” or “important message” will likely be unknown to the vast majority of individuals.
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Enable 2FA (2 factor authentication)
Even if you regularly check your email, create a robust and unique password for each account, and change that password on a regular basis, there is still a possibility that your email will be stolen, placing your company in jeopardy.
Even if someone gets their hands on your passwords, they won’t be able to access your accounts. Establish authentication using at least two different factors.
If you’ve never heard of it before, it’s similar to a security checkpoint in that it only functions when the appropriate credentials are entered, whether by you or an attacker. When engaged, the user will get a code through phone call or text message. The second factor in some kinds of two-factor authentication is biometric verification, which acts as the last safeguard. This makes it very difficult to gain access to them. A straightforward two-factor authentication system may prevent 99.9% of all email hacks. This precautionary measure ought to be obligatory for everyone on the team.
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Lock up emails with email encryption
Certain applications and procedures do not allow other individuals to interfere with them in any way. There are no further features or expansions available. But, third-party developers and add-on creators will find it simple to integrate their products with Gmail’s platform.
There are add-ons and extensions available that put a primary emphasis on safety. Gmail users can encrypt their emails with add-ons such as FlowCrypt, Mailvelope, Snapmail, and Lockmagic before sending them. Try out some free software like TrueCrypt rather than spending money on add-ons and extensions. These add-ons encrypt attachments as well, ensuring that your data is secure even if your email is intercepted and read by a third party.
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Use Tools for Protecting Your Email Privacy
Gmail can be used in a more secure manner by switching to the private mode. As you start composing an email by clicking the “Compose” button, a lock and a clock icon will show in the row below it. If you click on this symbol and activate the confidential mode, the recipients of your email will not be able to forward, copy, download, or print the message. When confidential mode is enabled, users are prevented from sending personal information to other users.
Your mail can be protected from unauthorised access in two more ways. The first option activates a countdown that gradually removes the message until it is no longer visible.
The use of two different authentication methods is comparable to selecting option two. Upon the receipt of your email, the individual will next receive a text message containing a code. Even if another person gets their hands on your mail, they won’t be able to view the confidential content unless you provide them the code.
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Keep an eye on what you’re doing on your devices
You should never give out personal or commercial information through your Gmail account. Therefore, many businesses advise that you should never check your email on a device that belongs to another person.
Many businesses have adopted “Bring your own device” policies in order to encourage their staff members to make use of their own electronic equipment. Hackers won’t be able to cause you any harm if you follow these steps. Even if you take precautions, a keylogger could still steal the information you use to log in. There are some devices that will save everything that you type on them. If you log in to an untrusted device, you are putting both yourself and your organisation in jeopardy.
Also, there are concerns regarding the device’s level of security. When you connect into your account using a device that has malware, you put yourself at risk of being hacked. There are situations when the security features available on the work laptop are superior than those available on your own computer.
Secure the data you use for both your personal life and your company, regardless of the device you use.
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Education for the personnel
You will need to perform these steps in order to ensure that your email account is secure. Yet, you need to take further precautions to safeguard your company. Your company runs the risk of suffering a data breach even if just a single worker or member of a team fails to adhere to these safety procedures. Hackers can utilise one weak link to get in.
It is of the utmost importance that you not only carry out these actions, but also instruct your fellow employees. You will only be able to maintain a lead over your rivals, hackers, and con artists if you educate each individual member on how to carry out each of these actions on a daily basis.
Conclusion
It is imperative that any potential security risks be unable to access either your personal or professional email accounts. You can avoid hacking and other security issues if you follow the security practises that have been outlined above. Hence, you should make it a top priority to incorporate as soon as possible into your business plan the various preventative measures that have been discussed.
