Top Advantages of Email Security

Now more than ever, businesses around the world are using email as their primary method of communication both internally and externally. As a convenient and efficient medium of sending sensitive data, emails are a business greatest tool but also its biggest weakness.

If you aren’t convinced as to why you need your emails to be as secure as possible after this article, we are more than happy to explain it in depth!

1. Protecting private information

Ensuring your email is encrypted and secure is the first step to ensuring that your data is protected. 

Without securing your email through something called encryption, your emails between your friends, family and co-workers are exposed – able to be read by someone with just the right amount of knowledge. 

What is encryption?

Encryption involves turning a simple term such as “hello” into a complete mix of numbers, letters and symbols.

When the correct recipient receives the “hello” your email security system will unscramble that message into the original message. While describing encryption is a very long, dark and deep rabbit whole rest assured in the hands of a seasoned tech, this process is a way to secure your data. 

Regardless of whether you handle private or personal information, always err on the side of caution and treat that data as a classified secret.  

2. Avoiding identity theft

How many services or applications are attached to your one email address? 

And for an even more serious question – how many of those share the same password? 

An insecure email address will make it all the easier for hackers to weasel their way in and take control of not only your email, but any accounts associated with your login details such as your Cloud platform, 0365, LinkedIn or Bank Account. 

Sharing the same password between different accounts may be a slightly separate issue to this article, but it’s worth mentioning – don’t do it. 

3. Staying compliant

Depending on the industry you’re in, it’s likely that you have both a legal and organisational obligation to ensure that your data and that of external clients is secure.

Fines can total up to $42,000 for individuals and $2.1 million for business without the knock-on effects for reputation and customer retention.

Data such as Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and electronic Personal Health Information (ePHI) have strict regulations when it comes to handling. However, the details of this may differ depending on where your organisation is located and whether you handle sensitive data such as banking details or personal addresses.

4. Removing threats before they even reach the user

I know what you’re thinking – and yes, we have all complained about our company email filters before. 

As annoying as they can be, they do still have their place, as a huge 90% of breaches come from human error. 

I must admit that I have fallen victim to a phishing email myself – thankfully Blizzard support was great (a shout out to them!) and restored my account. 

Phishing techniques are getting far more sophisticated as tactics change to adapt to a smarter and more aware user base. Fake login pages are looking closer to the real thing, and the emails themselves are starting to appear more legitimate. 

Stopping as many malicious emails before they reach the end user is the most effective and pain free way to bring down the likelihood of one of your system’s being compromised by an errant click. The team at Jinba IT is well positioned to help you build barriers malicious emails and advise your team on the best way to protect your data. 

Email security is important to us, and we’d love to help you create your most secure environment possible. Get in touch with us below for a free consultation and security audit, and find out where the gaps in your systems are.