What is Email Security?

Common Threats to Email Security

Some of the biggest threats to email security include:

Phishing

Phishing attacks are the most well-known and common threats to email security. Phishing attacks began with attacks like the Nigerian Prince scams, which were known for their poor grammar and unbelievable pretexts. Over time, these attacks have become more sophisticated with attackers sending much more polished emails with more plausible pretexts.

The modern phishing attack can be general or targeted. These targeted attacks, also called spear phishing attacks, are highly researched and designed to trick a particular person or group.

Business Email Compromise (BEC)

One example of a common spear phishing attack is business email compromise (BEC). In a BEC attack, the target is tricked into sending sensitive data — or more commonly money — to the attacker. BEC attacks have become one of the most significant and expensive phishing attacks that companies face. According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), BEC attacks between the years 2013 and 2022 caused an estimated loss of $50 billion.

Malware

Email is an ideal delivery mechanism for malware. Malware can be attached directly to an email or embedded in documents that are shared as attachments or via cloud-based storage. And once installed on a computer, malware may steal sensitive information or encrypt a user’s files.

Data Loss

Email accounts have access to a great deal of sensitive information. In addition to the data sent directly over email, these accounts are also used to access cloud-based infrastructure and other online services.

An attacker with access to these email accounts can gain access to all of this sensitive information, making email account credentials a common target of attack. Additionally, this information can be leaked by employees who accidentally include an unauthorized party on an email chain or fall for a phishing attack.

Malicious Links

Malicious links are some of the most common ways that cybercriminals weaponize email. With a link embedded within an email, an attacker can direct the recipient to a webpage under the attacker’s control.

These phishing pages can be used for a variety of different purposes. Phishing pages can be designed to steal user credentials or deliver malware. Regardless, they can cause serious damage to an organization.

Account Takeover

In an account takeover (ATO) attack, a cybercriminal gains access to a user’s email or other online account. This is usually accomplished by stealing the user’s login credentials via phishing, credential stuffing, malware, or similar means.

Once an attacker has control over a user’s email account, they can abuse it in various ways. For example, the user’s email might be used in a spear phishing attack, to send out spam, or to gain access to other accounts by requesting password reset emails to be sent to the compromised account.

Spam

Spam is unwanted email sent out via mass mailers. Spam can be used for various purposes, ranging from marketing efforts by legitimate companies to attempts to infect the target computer with malware.

Quishing

Quishing is a form of phishing attack that uses QR codes. Emails will contain an image of a QR code, which, if scanned, will direct the user to a phishing site designed to harvest login credentials or infect their computer with malware.

Quishing attacks are designed to take advantage of the fact that a user is likely to scan the code presented in an email using the camera on their mobile device. Since personal smartphones are likely unmanaged by the company, this provides a means for the attacker to bypass the organization’s security controls.

AI in Email Security

Recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI) have multiple potential impacts for email security, including:

• Language Analysis: Large language models (LLMs) have the ability to read and analyze the content of an email. They can be used to identify potential warning signs of phishing attacks, such as attempts to create a sense of urgency or use psychological manipulation to get the target to do what the attacker wants.
• Behavioral Analysis: AI is also well-suited to identifying patterns and trends in large volumes of data. This capability can be used for behavioral analysis, enabling email security tools to identify unusual email traffic that is indicative of a potential attack.

7 Ways to Secure Your Email

Email is one of the most commonly used attack vectors by cybercriminals because it is easy and effective. Protecting against these attacks can also be simple if an organization and its employees follow email security best practices, including:

1. Use a Strong Password: Weak, reused, and leaked passwords are the most common cause of email account compromise. Using a strong, unique password is essential to the security of email accounts.
2. Turn on Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): If an attacker gains access to a user’s email credentials, the compromised account can be used in a variety of attacks. Turning on MFA makes it more difficult for an attacker to perform an email account takeover because they need more than just the user’s password.
3. Deploy Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Solutions: Sensitive data can be leaked via email both intentionally and unintentionally. DLP solutions can help to identify signs of potential data exfiltration and block it before a breach occurs.
4. Implement Phishing Email Filtering: While many email providers try to filter out phishing content, some attacks will slip through. Deploying a solution to scan for and filter phishing content can help to prevent these emails from reaching employees’ inboxes.
5. Scan for Malicious Attachments: Attachments are a common way that phishing emails deliver malware to a target. Scanning emails for suspicious or malicious attachments can enable these attachments to be identified and removed from the email before they reach the user’s inbox and potentially infect their machine.
6. Train Employees: Phishing attacks are designed to take advantage of a user by tricking them into clicking on a link or opening a malicious attachment. Employee cyber awareness training can help employees to identify and appropriately respond to malicious emails, decreasing the probability of a successful attack.
7. Perform Frequent Security Monitoring: The cyber threat landscape is constantly evolving, and cybercriminals may develop new attack methods or start new campaigns using email against an organization. Monitoring email traffic for anomalies that may indicate a new threat can be critical to detecting and responding to these attacks.