Security

Email privacy and security for businesses – what is worth to know about them?

EmailLabs Team, 30 January 2023

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Email security is an essential element that every company needs to ensure during the era of evolving cybercrime. Attacks by hackers on business entities very often target precisely email communication, both internal and external to end users. The consequences of their actions can be very serious, from bad PR and loss of customers to actual financial losses resulting from it.

Implementing a company’s email privacy policy is not enough, additional safeguards are also necessary. In this article, we hint at what email privacy and security are and outline good practices for applying them.

What exactly is email security?

Under the term email security, there are a number of steps a company may take to make it more difficult for cybercriminals to gain access. A number of policies can be put in place regarding the use of business email accounts, and tools used to protect emails from threats such as spam, phishing or malware. Good solutions are:

  • Data encryption, for example, using the common SSL or TLS protocol. Preferably, unencrypted access to corporate mail should be disabled completely,
  • authenticating the domain with security features, such as SPF, DKIM, DMARC or S/MIME,
  • using antivirus software, which is one of the basic safeguards. Proper configuration of the software and ongoing updating is important in this regard,
  • backup, i.e. create security copies, which allow to restore data in case of interception or deletion,
  • Considerate and informed choice of a company that handles email delivery. It is necessary to check not only email deliverability, but also levels of security provided by the provider.

With these safeguards, information, company or personal data sent via e-mail will be protected from unauthorized access.

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Transport Layer Security is a protocol that establishes encrypted session between two computers on the Internet. It verifies the identity of the server and prevents hackers from intercepting any data.

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What is email privacy?

Email privacy is the practice of securing access to messages from unauthorized parties. It applies to storing, sending and sharing information regardless of where it is stored (e.g., servers or cell phones). Sending messages can be done through various systems and devices that are vulnerable to attacks.

Hackers can gain access to emails through:

  • devices on which they are received, such as company computers, phones and tablets,
  • network – using unsecured connections significantly increases the risk of hacking mail and browsing a company’s network,
  • server, whether it is in the cloud or on physical disk. Hackers have more and more means to gain access through it to mail and the business information and personal data stored on it,
  • users’ actions that unknowingly facilitate access, such as not taking proper care of password security or opening attachments from unauthorized senders. It is worthwhile to conduct employee cyber-security training that will be repeated regularly. That’s because criminals never fail to improve their methods of intercepting emails.

Every company should develop and implement its own email privacy policy, which will include policies and procedures to protect against unauthorized access.

Email privacy and security for businesses – best practices

Digital communication, such as sending emails, always involves the risk of interception. Companies should therefore implement all possible safeguards to improve email privacy and security. Along with the above-mentioned solutions to strengthen email security, common best practices are:

  • not using private accounts and equipment to send and receive business mail. Every employee, from the lower-level rank to the CEO, should have an email address that includes his name and company domain. This increases his credibility in business relations with customers, and also helps keep business emails secure and private,
  • using formal communication in the emails created, paying particular attention to their grammatical correctness, style and wording used. Before sending, it is a good idea to read the content prepared, making sure to avoid, if possible, information that might interest hackers,
  • using two-factor authentication, which increases security by requiring two types of identity verification when logging into an account, such as by entering a password and confirming it with a cell phone. This practice makes hacking attempts on email accounts for businesses much more difficult,
  • avoiding connecting to an open Wi-Fi network to receive business mail, either on a train, at an airport, in a hotel at a restaurant, or using public computers for this purpose. For hackers, these are excellent opportunities to capture login credentials without much effort,
  • using a VPN, or virtual private network, which ensures the security of data transmission by encrypting every message sent. It’s worth implementing it throughout the company, as well as among employees who work remotely.
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Internet connection secured by VPN

Secure email for businesses – use EmailLabs services!

Email security is a priority for companies operating in today’s digital world. If you care about it and high deliverability of both marketing and transactional emails, we encourage you to use our services.

We own a server infrastructure that allows integration with many mailing systems, which guarantees 98.8% email deliverability. This is achieved at such a high level by integrating Cloud SMTP and Email RESTful API with our infrastructure. Also, we take care of their security by using proper authentication methods. Working with us is a sure way to reach your customers!

EmailLabs Team

EmailLabs Team

We are a group of specialists involved in developing substantive and engaging articles on emails and their deliverability. Our value is to be part of the team that creates the EmailLabs service on a daily basis, making our content fully responsive to our audience's questions and problems. Do you have any questions? We look forward to hearing from you :)

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