It’s estimated that around 205 billion emails are sent every day. We use them in almost all
aspects of our lives, from casual conversation to important financial information. Email
addresses act as our IDs on the internet, we use them to sign up to social networks, shop
online and access our online banking. In business they are an integral form of
communication, that’s why hackers view them as an open door to potentially steal from you
or run your business into the ground.
There are numerous ways the security of your emails can be compromised. Physically, if
someone can get access to your device and work out or guess your passwords they will be
able to read your emails. If the network the email is being sent or received on is
compromised your sensitive information may be accessed. Additionally, if someone gains
access to your server they will be able to read your emails. They do not need access to your
devices in order to do this they can read them directly off the server.
The security of your emails can also be compromised by spam. Cisco, an American
multinational networking hardware company revealed in their 2017 annual cybersecurity
report that last year 65% of all emails were categorised as spam, making 2016 officially the
most active year yet for email hacking. It’s therefore obviously very important that you don’t
let your business’ email security slack in 2017.
Approximately 10% of all spam emails are malicious. This statistic has tripled in the past
year alone. Cybercriminals use spam to spread malware and ransomware. Ransomware is
viruses emailed to you as a PDF or Word document attachments. They might look legitimate
but when clicked on they will encrypt your files so you are unable to access them before
demanding payment. Spam emails can often be very sophisticated and hard to spot. The
emails will be addressed from a trusted company such as Paypal or a bank. They will
contain a link to a website where you will invited to enter personal details or sensitive
information. In doing so you will be providing the details to criminals and potentially
downloading malware on your computer giving the criminals full access to your computer
system.
Cisco’s report shows organisations impacted by these cyberattacks suffer financially, with
some facing up to 25% loss of revenue. There’s also the problem of your business facing
public scrutiny and a loss of customer trust after a security breach.
Mailcleaner can stop malware before it reaches yours or your employee’s inboxes. The
spam filter server ensures that 99% of unwanted messages are blocked. It analyses each
message so you only receive those that are important. When a harmful file is detected
mailcleaner automatically sends it to a quarantined zone where it can’t cause any future
damage.